Political paranoia
Subtitle: the psychopolitics of hatred
By: Robert S. Robins, Jerrold M. Post.
Contributors: Post, Jerrold M.
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: New Haven
Language: eng
Number of pages: 366
Subjects: Right and left (Political science) -- Psychological aspects.; Paranoia.
Description: Robert S. Robins and Jerrold M. Post, M.D., experts in political psychology, document and interpret the malign power of paranoia in a variety of contexts - in political movements like McCarthyism; in organizations like the John Birch Society; in leaders like Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Jim Jones, and David Koresh; and among extreme groups that commit violence in the name of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.

Indeed, Robins and Post show that the paranoid dynamic has been aggressively present in every social disaster of this century. Robins and Post describe the paranoid personality, explain why paranoia is part of human evolutionary history, and examine the conditions that must exist before the message of the paranoid takes root in a vulnerable population, leading to mass movements and genocidal violence.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 329-353) and index.