Power Corrupts

Come explore the dark side of power as we travel across the globe meeting the often unsavory characters who inhabit the hidden world of mercenaries, propaganda, biological weapons, information warfare and trolls, dirty money, psychopaths, corruption, dictators, and revolutions. Hosted by Dr. Brian Klaas, political scientist at University College London and weekly columnist for The Washington Post.   --   Power Corrupts is written and narrated by Brian Klaas. The executive producer and sound editor is .

To end our first season we look at Nepotism. What’s it like to be the son or daughter of a dictator? Why did one dictator’s son go from a high-flying life playing football in Italy to being shorn like a sheep in the hands of rebels? Why did the cannibal emperor of Bangui murder a woman who claimed to be his long-lost daughter? And in the cutthroat world of politics, is nepotism necessary to survive? We’ll answer those questions across the globe from Equatorial Guinea to Uzbekistan and from Libya to the United States.    Thank you to all who have listened to Series 1 of the podcast. Series 2 coming February 6th 2020.   ----   Power Corrupts is written and narrated by Brian Klaas. The executive producer and sound editor is .  

What makes ordinary people commit extraordinarily violent acts? Is it their brain chemistry? Social pressure? Or a charismatic leader telling them it's their patriotic duty? In this episode, we explore the morality of a scientist who gave life to billions--but also facilitated the murder of millions; a psychiatrist who studied the brains of Nazi war criminals; a Rwandan who lost most of her family in the 1994 genocide; and hear from two experts on how authoritarian leaders can convince seemingly kind people to murder their neighbors.       ----   Power Corrupts is written and narrated by Brian Klaas. The executive producer and sound editor is .

When you think of heists, you probably think of masked men, bank robbers, and priceless art. But governments carry out heists, too. In this episode, we explore a billion dollar bank heist carried out by North Korean hackers; a heist carried out by a dictator who pledged to rule for a billion years (and was obsessed with mayonnaise); and a jewel heist that destroyed diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Thailand for a generation.      ----   Power Corrupts is written and narrated by Brian Klaas. The executive producer and sound editor is .

Why do dictators and despots create outlandish myths about themselves? Why spread lies claiming that you've written 18,000 books or that you personally invented hamburgers? Why waste millions on a golden statue of yourself that rotates to face the sun? It turns out there's a method to their madness. In this episode, we examine some of the weirdest and most brutal dictators on the planet to understand the three step playbook for how despots across the globe try to transform themselves from flawed tyrants into seemingly flawless demigods with a cult of personality.   ----   Power Corrupts is written and narrated by Brian Klaas. The executive producer and sound editor is .