List of cults of personality

A cult of personality uses various techniques, including the mass media, propaganda, the arts, patriotism, and government-organized demonstrations and rallies to create a heroic image of a leader, often inviting worshipful behavior through uncritical flattery and praise.

Followers of Perón praised his effort in creating a monolithic labour movement, while their detractors considered him a demagogue and a dictator that ferociously persecuted dissents and swiftly eroded the republican principles of the country as a way to stay in power.

Though the Vietnamese invasion cut these plans short, a less extreme version of Pol Pot's cult of personality continued to exist in the areas which were under the control of Khmer Rouge remnants.

The Central African Republic (CAR) has a history marked by leaders who have fostered personalistic regimes, with prominent figures developing cults of personality to consolidate their power.

Another influential leader, Ange-Félix Patassé, who served from 1993 to 2003, maintained a strong personal following, often utilizing patronage networks and favoring his own ethnic group to cement loyalty.

[22] François Bozizé, who took power through a coup in 2003 and ruled until 2013, also cultivated a significant following, partially by integrating family members into high governmental roles and leveraging security forces.

[23] His successor, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, who became president in 2016, has continued this trend, partly relying on support from the Russian paramilitary Wagner Group, which has bolstered his authority amid ongoing instability.

[24] Touadéra's moves to extend his tenure, such as pushing for a referendum to abolish term limits, highlight the persistence of personality-driven politics in CAR's governance, echoing the legacy of his predecessors.

A personality cult in the Republic of China was centered on the Kuomintang party founder Sun Yat-sen, with his successor, President Wang Jingwei and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.

The People's Republic of China under Chairman Mao Zedong also developed a cult of personality, the most obvious symbol of which is his massive portrait situated on the north end of Tiananmen Square.

[39][40] The first president of Equatorial Guinea, Francisco Macías Nguema, was the centre of an extreme personality cult, perhaps fueled by his consumption of copious amounts of bhang[41] and iboga,[42] and he assigned himself titles such as the "Unique Miracle" and "Grand Master of Education, Science, and Culture".

"[63] It is observed by media critics that despite flawed governance and several political setbacks,[64][65][66] Modi's charisma and popularity was a key factor that helped the BJP return to power in the 2019 Parliament elections.

His ideological writings on the 1959 Political Manifesto (Manipol-USDEK) and NASAKOM ("Nationalism, Religion and Communism") became mandatory subjects in Indonesian schools and universities, while his speeches were to be memorized and discussed by all students.

[83] Several books praising him and his works were published during his 30 years of power, such as the 6-book series of "Jejak Langkah Pak Harto" (Mr. Harto's Footsteps) by Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin (1991), "The Smiling General: President Soeharto of Indonesia" by an unknown German named Otto Gustav Roeder (1969) – who was thought to be a former Schutzstaffel member and spy stationed in Indonesia named Rudolf Oebsger-Röder [id] – and his autobiography entitled "Pikiran, Ucapan, dan Tindakan Saya" (My Thoughts, Remarks, and Actions, 1989).

[89] The methods used to create his personality cult have been compared to those used by such figures as Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro, and it was encouraged by Khomeini himself (which was negatively noted by his enemies inside Iran).

[104][105] These attitudes were seen by public opinion as clear examples of the new political style that Berlusconi brought into Italy, focused on the leader's charisma, cult of personality and media domination.

After taking power in a coup in 1961, President Park Chung Hee developed a personality cult of a type identical to his northern counterpart, with his image on posters and paintings that were displayed dynamically at marches and stadium gatherings.

[118] Biographer Daniel Kawczynski noted that Gaddafi was famous for his "lengthy, wandering" speeches,[119] which typically involved criticizing Israel and the U.S.[116] In the Philippines, many local politicians engage in some sort of cult of personality.

1967 or Anti-Signage of Public Works Act, colloquially known as the Anti-Epal Bill, was filed by Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago in November 2011, and refiled again in July 2013 in an effort to stop the practice.

[124][125] A cult of personality developed in Poland around the figure of Józef Piłsudski, a Polish military commander and politician, starting from the interwar period and continuing after his death in 1935 until the present day.

[127] During the Estado Novo regime, but mainly at its beginning, there was a significant effort by the state to promote António de Oliveira Salazar as a national hero who saved the country from political and financial instability, with him often getting compared to other historical figures of Portugal.

Sometimes called "chefe" (chief), propaganda posters and photographs glorifying not only Salazar[128] but also Óscar Carmona[citation needed] were commonly placed in public buildings such as schools and police stations.

In 1986 The New York Times reporter, David Binder stated that Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu presided over "a cult of personality that has equaled, or even surpassed, those of Stalin's Russia, Mao's China and Tito's Yugoslavia.

"[134] Inspired by the personality cult surrounding Kim Il Sung in North Korea, it started with the 1971 July Theses which reversed the liberalization of the 1960s and imposed a strict nationalist ideology.

This book is an expression of the most dissolute flattery, an example of making a man into a godhead, of transforming him into an infallible sage, "the greatest leader", "sublime strategist of all times and nations".

[156] In 2020, Twitter announced that it shut down a network of 8,500 spam accounts that wrote 43 million tweets – acted in concert to cheerlead for Vučić and his party, boost Vučić-aligned content and attack his opponents.

[196] President Gnassingbé Eyadéma had a personality cult of titanic proportions, including, but not limited to, an entourage of one thousand dancing women who sang and danced in praise of him; schoolchildren beginning their day by singing his praises;[197] portraits which adorned most stores; a bronze statue in the capital Lomé; $20 wristwatches with his portrait, which disappeared and re-appeared every fifteen seconds; and even a comic book that depicted him as a superhero and budai with powers of invulnerability and superhuman strength.

[213][214][215] Niyazov simultaneously cut funding to and partially disassembled the education system in the name of "reform", while injecting ideological indoctrination into it by requiring all schools to use his own book, the Ruhnama, as their primary text, and like Kim Il Sung, there was even a creation myth surrounding him.

Opinions, publications and broadcasts that are critical of Ho Chi Minh or that identify his flaws are de facto banned in Vietnam, and the commentators are arrested or fined for "opposing the people's revolution".

Emerging from his leading role in Yugoslav Partisans' liberation struggle in World War II, Tito's cult of personality went on to be solidified by the Tito–Stalin split of 1948, embarking Yugoslavia on a path towards a socialist system independent of the Soviet Union.