One hat too many

Napoleon viewed France not as a country but as a set of personal drawers only he could manage. What lay beneath this obsession was the idea that only he could do it right.

- BY SYED SHEHERYAR RAZA ZAIDI

Stalin

HISTORY is filled with tales of powerful men who accumulate titles the way some people collect travel fridge magnets.

They begin with one respectable office, add a second for convenience, a third in the name of 'stability', and then, before anyone realises, they end up wearing more metaphorical hats than a sturdy neck can bear.

For instance, Napoleon Bonaparte began as a general, then made himself the first consul, then consul for life and then crowned himself emperor. The scene is unforgettable: Napoleon takes the crown from the Pope's hands and places it on his own head, as if even divine authority needed streamlining. His appetite for responsibilities ballooned so dramatically that one imagines he viewed France not as a country but as a set of personal drawers only he could manage. What lay beneath this obsession was the idea that only he could do it right.

Yugoslavia's Marshal Josip Broz Tito on the other hand adopted a more discreet but equally expansive strategy. He accumulated roles — president, prime minister, supreme commander, chairman of the League of Communists, so much so that the line between Tito and the state blurred beyond recognition. Even the most capable ministers, generals, or party secretaries existed as accessories, not actors. When a leader insists on wearing every hat, it signals that he does not trust anyone else to wear even one.

Take Uganda's Idi Amin - he turned the appropriation of fancy hats and titles into an art.