The KCIA exploited pre-existing societal distrust to consolidate power

Evidence

Perhaps the greatest deliberate experiment in pervasive distrust was that of Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union during the purge years of the 1930s. Although the apparatus of those years was not fully dismantled soon thereafter, the war with Germany required enough cohesion to make such deep distrust harmful even to Stalin’s personal rule. Pol Pot’s rule of Cambodia similarly depended on radical use of distrust. In general, pervasive distrust is more quietly used than it was in these two dreadful cases. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 467 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Distrust of the powerful poisons trust among the powerless as well; Totalitarian regimes can sustain themselves by deliberately cultivating pervasive distrust. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 467; Power holders can deliberately manufacture distrust conditions to secure control (+3 more)

Related

• Totalitarian regimes can sustain themselves by deliberately cultivating pervasive distrust. (similarity 0.88)
• Totalitarian perpetrators relied on the public’s incredulity to shield their crimes (similarity 0.84)
• Power holders can deliberately manufacture distrust conditions to secure control (similarity 0.83)

Broader Connections

• Power holders can deliberately manufacture distrust conditions to secure control #corroborates (0.95)
• Totalitarian regimes can sustain themselves by deliberately cultivating pervasive distrust. #corroborates (0.85) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 467
• Vote-buying by Sharmarkee’s faction seeded distrust that led to authoritarian rule #exemplifies (0.85)
• Dominant powers benefit from engineering their subjects’ inability to trust #corroborates (0.80)
• Distrust is a self-reinforcing, self-fulfilling social dynamic. #expands (0.75)
• Distrust of the powerful poisons trust among the powerless as well #expands (0.70)