I began my educational career as a History and Geography teacher. I was an early adopter of computers in the early 1990s as we used IBM and even Tandy (remember Radio Shack?) PCs. I was fortunate to meet Dr. Joe Howell as we embarked on creating an early multimedia authoring program for students we called "BookBuilder." It was way ahead of its time. Joe is still a remarkable coder and was a wonderful college professor. In the classroom we decided to create multimedia reports on World War Two and focus on how Adolph Hitler rose to power. Our students used video clips that we would laugh at now (160x120 size....tiny!). We really wanted the students to dive into how Hitler rose to power. This is a topic of increasing interest today.
We talked about how Germany was severely punished for their role in World War One. The Great Depression, which hit Germany in the late 1920s and early 1930s, led to widespread unemployment and dissatisfaction among the population. The Nazi Party, led by Adolf Hitler, exploited this situation to its advantage. From 1929 to 1932, the party significantly increased its membership and voting strength. In 1928, the Nazi Party received 800,000 votes in elections to the Reichstag (the German Parliament). By July 1932, their vote had surged to about 14 million, making them the largest voting bloc in the Reichstag with 230 members (38 percent of the total vote). The Nazi Party used a mix of propaganda and terror to ascend to power. They spread their organizational system of gauleiters (district leaders) throughout Germany. Swelling bands of SA (Sturmabteilung) toughs engaged in street fighting with communists during electoral campaigns. Hitler then worked "legally" to transform Germany into a dictatorship, consolidating his power.
There's a lot to understanding how someone like Adolph Hitler leveraged the global situation to drive his ultimate vision of what he saw as a racially superior Third Reich. I highly recommend Netflix's recent series on this topic, "Hitler and the Nazi's: Evil on Trial."
Today (June, 2024) much of the world is watching political events in France as the far-right National Rally party, led by Marine Le Pen, remains a significant force in French politics. The National Rally has capitalized on anti-immigrant sentiments, advocating for stricter immigration policies and border controls. In a climate of economic uncertainty and cultural anxiety, this message resonates with certain segments of the population. The National Rally emphasizes French identity, nationalism, and sovereignty. It positions itself as a defender of traditional French values against perceived threats from globalization and multiculturalism. This is not unique to France.
The rise of conservative parties in national elections across Europe, India, and parts of Asia reflects a complex interplay of political, economic, social, and cultural factors. Conservative parties in Europe have often capitalized on concerns over immigration and national identity. Parties like the UK's Conservative Party (under leaders like Theresa May and Boris Johnson) and parties in Eastern Europe (e.g., Fidesz in Hungary, Law and Justice in Poland) have gained support by advocating stricter immigration policies and emphasizing national sovereignty. In India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Narendra Modi has risen to prominence partly due to its nationalist agenda, emphasizing Hindu identity and cultural pride. This has resonated with a significant portion of the electorate. In regions where political stability is a concern, conservative parties often present themselves as guarantors of order and continuity, contrasting themselves with more progressive or reform-oriented challengers.
The collective success of these parties reflects a broader trend towards political movements that promise stability, security, and a return to traditional values in an increasingly uncertain world. It's important for all of us to pay attention to these trends and events. The rise of nationalism in the 19th century contributed to the outbreak of World War I through the formation of nation-states, expansionist ambitions, and the development of alliance systems. Its impact was profound, shaping the ideologies and events that eventually led to World War II. Nationalist aspirations for power, prestige, and territory intertwined with complex geopolitical dynamics, ultimately creating a volatile environment conducive to global conflict. This is the absolute power of culture on a grand scale.
In this blog I talk often about that power. I repeatedly use the phrase, "People are loyal to culture, not strategy." Personally, I think it is wrong to compare any leaders of these parties to Hitler as 20th Century Germany was profoundly different in complexity and influential variables compared to today. But it is important to look closely at the path that led a highly educated people to such extreme values. In the aftermath of World War I and the Weimar Republic era, Germany's literacy rate saw improvements. The Weimar Constitution of 1919 guaranteed free primary education, which contributed to an increase in literacy rates among the population. The literacy rate continued to rise during the early years of the 1930s. By 1933, when Hitler came to power, Germany's literacy rate was relatively high, reflecting the nation's developed educational system and widespread access to schooling. So, how are highly educated people so often persuaded to align with ideologies that can be so devastatingly...well...inhuman?
There is a very wide body of research on this very question. Scholars across the fields of sociology, psychology, biology, and history have published decades of research related to this conundrum. Perhaps we need to go back further than this research to understand how educated populations adopt extreme systems. Perhaps we need to go back hundreds of thousands of years. For over 300,000 years our planet was ruled by the hominid species we call Neanderthal. Our Homo Sapiens ancestors were not necessarily more intelligent than our neighboring hominids, the Neanderthals. However, they excelled in social cooperation. By maintaining social ties across groups, through symbolic culture, modern humans could move into new environments and grow in number. These early groups averaged over 200 individuals in size. Neanderthals averaged more or less 15-30. This social connectivity and group size allowed them to eventually overwhelm more scattered, isolated hominid populations.
You see, it's not just "intelligence" that leads a population to dominance. It's social connectivity. There is a constant "harmonic" shifting from consonance to dissonance as that population constantly adjusts to external threats and opportunities. These harmonics can be tracked and even mapped as individuals move from the core values of any culture to its extreme boundaries. This is encompassed with the Organizational Culture Harmonics System described in detail in my book, "The Herd: How to Leverage the Absolute Power of Organizational Culture." Neighborhoods, counties, states, and even nations are nothing more than organizations of varying scale. As conditions change so too do the threats and opportunities for these organizations.
Ideologies across larger and larger groups can become powerful forces of change for better or worse. These groups share common assumptions that drive their values. These values then become the core of the ever-adapting culture. The most powerful force contributing to our success in dominating the planet is that power of numbers grounded in culture. How did Hitler rise to power? In large part he leveraged a core attribute of what it is to be human. He understood the power of culture and intentionally drove totalitarian values in a very intentional and carefully orchestrated vision. What will happen across nations increasingly moving toward modernized visions of nationalism and exclusionary ideologies? Will they create new alliances? It certainly looks like it.
Recently, Russia and North Korea signed a military alliance, which has raised concerns among the United States, South Korea, and Japan. China, as the world’s second-largest economy, has the potential to challenge the US-led world order. Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela and other countries are actively forming alliances and partnerships to create alternative economic and geopolitical structures that challenge traditional Western dominance and reduce reliance on Western-controlled institutions like the US dollar-centric economic system. These efforts represent a shift towards a more multipolar world order with diverse centers of economic and geopolitical influence.
Look carefully at these emerging alliances and compare their "assumptions" to those representing Western values. Most Western nations are democratic, with varying degrees of political pluralism, individual freedoms, and respect for human rights. These countries generally emphasize the rule of law, free elections, and civil liberties. Western nations largely operate under market economies characterized by private ownership, free enterprise, and open competition. They emphasize economic freedom, innovation, and entrepreneurship. On the other side are the emerging alliances that are characterized by authoritarian governance structures with varying degrees of centralized control, limited political pluralism, and restricted civil liberties. These countries prioritize stability and state control over individual freedoms. Western nations prioritize democratic values such as individual rights, political participation, and rule of law, where as others prioritize state control, stability, and national sovereignty.
These are fundamental assumptions and profoundly different. Axis and Allies was the term for the opposing international forces in World War II. International diplomacy and conflict resolution mechanisms (e.g., United Nations, treaties, diplomatic channels) play a crucial role today in preventing escalation and managing conflicts peacefully. Continued efforts towards arms control, nuclear non-proliferation, and disarmament are essential to reduce the risks associated with weapons of mass destruction. There are ongoing geopolitical tensions among major powers, including competition for resources, influence in regions like the South China Sea, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. These tensions could escalate, leading to conflict, although most nations prioritize avoiding direct military confrontation due to the catastrophic consequences. Raising awareness about the risks of conflict and advocating for peaceful resolutions can influence public opinion and policy decisions towards peaceful coexistence.
And there it is...raising awareness...continued efforts towards diplomacy, conflict prevention, and global cooperation are essential to mitigate risks and ensure a peaceful future for all nations. Understanding these harmonics across competing cultures is essential to our survival as a species. Varying cultures can coexist. They often do. But as they scale, they collide. Neanderthal ruled for over 300,000 years, until we came along. We were not smarter than them. We were not stronger or faster. We understood the absolute power of organizational culture. Read my book if you'd like to lean more about how to leverage that power for your organization, however large or small. Today, there are no Neanderthal, other than their legacy DNA in all of us...
Comments