Societal disorder as a precursor to dangerous minds in politics

Abstract

Violence as a public health emergency, and the rise in recent years of dangerous, mentally impaired leaders across the globe demonstrates vividly the importance of education and prevention with respect to the public health and mental health factors that play a role in contemporary international politics. “Strongmen”—or, more accurately, fragile men—including Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Jair Bolsonaro, Rodrigo Duterte, Mohammed bin Salman, Kim Jong-un, and Xi Jinping, amongst others, all portray themselves in a defensive and overcompensating show of force that threatens not just their own people and neighbouring countries, but the survival of humankind. This article will outline the importance of considering these leaders in public health terms, as manifestations of a societal and cultural disorder after decades of toleration of structural violence and violent policies. As personality disorder writ large, cultural disorder not only gives rise to but supports the rise of dangerous personalities in leadership positions.