Research into authoritarian regimes reveals the crucial role of mediocre employees in maintaining power. Prominent autocrats such as Vladimir Putin in Russia and Viktor Orban in Hungary rely on high-level allies, but it’s the lower and mid-level individuals who are instrumental in the actual execution of their plans.
Historically, focus has been placed on elite incentives to support leaders, with little attention to how leaders manage to convince ground-level workers. Until recently, the prevalent assumption was that these workers were driven by extremism or fear.
Recent studies, utilizing data from Argentina’s Dirty War, offer a contrasting perspective. Career pressures, such as seeking promotions or reviving faltering careers, often drive lower- and midlevel officials to partake in actions contrary to professional and ethical norms. These individuals are identified as “career-pressured” and their decisions are influenced by common professional desires rather than extremist views or coercion.
Adam Scharpf and Christian Glassel’s book “Making a Career in Dictatorship” explores this phenomenon. Their research indicates that low performers in Argentina’s military found paths to career advancement through roles in secret police operations, bypassing traditional hierarchies.
The study challenges the notion that successful authoritarian regimes depend on ideological zealots. Instead, by targeting frustrated, mediocre workers, regimes can effectively consolidate power.
“The banality of evil meets career ambitions,” a summary of the research’s implications.
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