Psychological Analysis of Pol Pot

It is somewhat surprising that Pol Pot became the Communist tyrant that he did given his background. He was born in 1925 to a family of Khmer peasants who had royal connections. One of his cousins became a palace dancer and his sister was actually a a royal consort. His oldest brother began a palace career when Pol Pot was young, bringing Pol Pot into the palace with him when he was six years old. Pol Pot was actually born Saloth Sar and he was the youngest of seven children (Kiernan, 1998).

Saloth Sar had a relatively strict upbringing in that environment. With his connections, he was able to obtain a scholarship to study in Paris in 1948. It was at this point that Saloth Sar became aware of racism. Race and racism were to become major issues in his life, affecting his philosophy, ideology, and actions (Kiernan, 1996).

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1996). For David Chandler (1993), there is also this marriage of psychology and ideology. He viewed Pol Pot as a paranoid absolutist who was fundamentally Maoist, rather than Marxist. He was influenced by the cultural revolution, according to Chandler, but also strongly influenced by the Cambodian nationalist movement. Pol Pot was typically Communist in his hatred of religion and his tendency to target Buddhist monks and their objects. He was also typical in targeting the educated, the wealthy, and the upper and middle classes. He also suspected artists of being impure. He was also typically Communist in his distrust of other brands of Communism, although he obtained support from the Chinese Communists in terms of materials and technical advisors. He was perhaps more motivated by ethnic hatred, particularly of the Vietnamese, than other Communist movements. Tactics Like Mao, Pol Pot used both young people and a movement toward radical social change. Like Stalin and Mao, Pol Pot was paranoid about both the leadership and the ordinary people, relying on constant purges to "purify" the country and the revolution. In terms of tactics, Pol Pot led the movement into a vast experiment in social reengineering. For Pol Pot, yea
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Approximate Word count = 2539
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)