My project aims to summarize and synthesize research on personality aspects of different political dictators during the 21st century. I will compare and contrast the personalities of different leaders, using the case studies of Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and dictators from modern Africa and North Korea. Focusing on dimensions such as upbringing, culture, and personality traits, I will try to explain how evil is similar among these individuals. Specifically, my emphasis will be on possible personality disorders and the pathological aspects of these leaders’ personalities. Are there commonalities in these dictators’ pathological makeup? What does this imply? I want to combine my Political Science major and Psychology minor to better understand what makes these leaders do terrible things, if and how they are similar to each other, and what we can do as policy makers to stop atrocities from happening in the future.
