“Corruptible,” the essential features of corrupt “leaders”

Book review of “Corruptible” as authored by Brian Klaas and reviewed by The one-handed economist, David Zetland on his blog.

Brian Klaas published this book in late 2021, which was too early to discuss Putin’s second invasion of Ukraine but not too late to discuss Trump’s first term — let alone his first day.

Those oversights do not matter because Klaas discusses the essential features of corrupt “leaders” in a way that helps us understand their psychopathic personalities, i.e., thinking they are smarter than others and can bend reality to their will, regardless of the human costs.

This page turner is a pleasure to read, even if its content and characters can drive you crazy. The pleasure comes in the stories, the diagnoses, and the patterns that Klaas shows to us. The downside — running into a number of terrible people — is mostly balanced by a better understanding of how those people are different from normal people.

Indeed, that’s one of the problems in societies with free elections: How to get decent people to challenge cheaters who respect neither rules nor humans. Klaas spends a lot of time on that subject, and he has some good ideas.

I made dozens of notes in my paper copy of this book, but I won’t be pasting a lot of excerpts here. Instead, here are a few key ideas:

1. Klaas sets out to answer four questions: (i) Do worse people get power? [Yes.] (ii) Does power make people worse? [Yes.] (iii) How do we let people control us who clearly have no business being in control? [Reliance on outdated concepts of leadership, stimulated by political advertising],  and (iv) How do we ensure that incorruptible people get into power and wield it justly [more citizen assemblies; surveilling politicians and bureaucrats rather than citizens; etc.]
2. Humans, as primates, are very aware of power structures and hierarchies and we do not like to be controlled by others, but we need to update structures as conditions change (wealth, cities, etc.)
3. We need to pay more attention to the people who do not run for office rather than the people who do, as that’s how voters end up with a choice between Bad and Worse. We need to prioritize political competence over height.
4. Terrible leaders possess a “dark triad” (DT) of characteristics: Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy that result (respectively) in “ends justify means” maneuvering, self-promotion, and aggressive non-empathy. (DT is too close to DJT to be a coincidence.)
5. Successful psychopaths are harder to detect, as they are very good at “working the mood,” but unsuccessful ones — who get angry because they cannot get what they want — resort to violence. (Reminds me of my violent neighbor.)
6. DT people tend to make big mistakes because they (a) are over-confident and (b) take excess risks. #MurderousPutin.
7. Most of us forgive our own mistakes while condemning those of others. We need to turn that one around if we’re going to get along.
8. Culture and incentives matter. A “corrupt” person behaves in a non-corrupt environment; an “honest” person misbehaves in a corrupt culture. That said, leaders make tough choices that leave some unhappy.
9. If men do “fight or flight” then women do “tend and befriend” — both of which have their evolutionary value.
10. If you’re not getting the diverse pool of applicants you want, then maybe you’re not presenting the “opportunity” (university place; job opening; political office) in a way that appeals to underrepresented candidates?
11. The Big Gods (monotheism) who displaced Many Gods differed in an interesting, new way: They were omnipotent. Big Gods (a) encouraged would-be sinners to behave and (b) increased trust. These two responses increased social cooperation and wealth.
12. Are we locking up the wrong people? White collar crimes are not just 20 times more costly than regular crimes; they are also responsible for 20 times more “accidental” deaths.
13. I love this idea from India — ipaidabribe.com — for good reason.

I give this book FIVE STARS. Read it.