Height and Characteristics of the Rule of Modern World Dictators
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7251/FLZB2324385MKeywords:
Napoleon complex, height, dictatorship, characteristics of rule, 20th-21st centuryAbstract
The “Napoleon complex” is a social stereotype according to which short men show pronounced behavioral compensations (dominant-aggressive social behavior), precisely because of their short stature. Starting with Napoleon, this stereotype is often encountered in colloquial discourses about world leaders and especially – dictators, whose behaviors and characteristics of rule are commonly associated with their height. Findings generally do not confirm a correlation between height and violent behavior, but there is confirmation of a positive relationship between height and social status, as well as experimental confirmation of greater behavioral flexibility of short men when competing for resources. Focusing on the history of the XX-XXI centuries, we examined the connection between the height of 29 dictators and the characteristics of their rule, which were coded from the available historical material. The average height of dictators is 175cm (SD=11). Several notable, albeit only anecdotal relationships between the height of the dictator and the variables of their rule characteristics have emerged. The higher height of the dictator is related to a slightly higher chance of: coming to power by inheritance and committing impulsive ethnic-property violence during the reign. Socioeconomic implications for the country that resulted from the period of power of senior dictators were slightly more often described negatively. The lower height of the dictator is related to a slightly higher chance of: territorial expansions and more killing of one’s own population (democide). All obtained effects are of anecdotally low reliability and do not indicate a clear relationship between height and rule. However, some observations are consistent with the Napoleon complex. Shorter dictators’ greater propensities for democide and territorial expansion are likely to be discernible even with superficial observations and are presumably sufficient to support and sustain colloquial narratives about the importance (and overemphasis) of height in the context of the behavior of contemporary dictators.
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