They say that those who have built their power with deception and manipulation sit inside a house of cards, with little to protect them. Yet, deception is a tactic most politicians around the world have used for decades, centuries even.

As a result, there are many sociological and psychological theories encompassing deception in politics.

This is the first of a trilogy of articles discussing three key theories of deception in politics: elite theory, the psychology of persuasion and the principal agent theory. The goal of this article is to examine how deception is used by politicians to maintain power and control over the masses through the application of elite theory.

Elite Theory

Wright Mills originally came up with elite theory in 1957, stating that “the power elite is composed of men whose positions enable them transcend the ordinary environment… in positions to make decisions having major consequences.” In other words, the people who hold powerful policy making positions come from some situation that put them above others.

Today elite theorists believe that political leaders are those who have been selected by “a minority that dominates society and has a monopoly of power,” (Hoffman, 47). Essentially, even in a democratic environment, the illusion that the people govern the country is simply an illusion. Instead, a small group of elites controls the power by intentionally influencing the masses.

Deception and Elite Theory

Elite theory fits very well into the analysis of deception in politics. Since the elite group needs to maintain control, they will employ some tactic of deception, such as psychological influence and/or a principal agent. The ability of the masses to collectively act and overrule the standing order is naturally a concern of those in charge.

In order to prevent an uprising or withdrawal of favor from occurring, “elite-engineered moral panic” is used to sway the public’s opinion in favor of the ruling party and their interests (Bonn, 157). As a tool of influence, the CIA uses a tactic known as MICE, which stands for money, ideology, compromise or coercion and ego or excitement. The option chosen may depend on the situation at hand or whether or not one or another choice has already failed.

For example, a president facing a difficult reelection campaign may need some sort of deceptive plan to keep the votes on his side. Depending on what information and tools are available to him, he may resort to inciting fear. One example of this phenomenon happened in the most recent season of House of Cards.

An Empire Built on a House of Cards

**SPOILER** At the end of season 4, President Underwood allows the entire United States public to watch live as a terrorist executes a United States citizen instead of cutting the newsfeed nationwide. He then breaks the 4th wall, turns to the camera and says, “That’s right, we don’t submit to terror. We make the terror.”

Why would he do that? President Underwood and his party were losing their political grip on the White House. The collective action of the masses had become threatening to not only his party, but his seat of power within his party. Underwood needed a diversion.

In elite theory, usually the elite power holder wants to maintain control with as little deviation from the ideal end state as possible. For Frank Underwood, the goal is keeping the presidency at all costs and saving face. He needs to assess the collective’s vulnerabilities and figure out how to counter them. He’s already tried ideologically gaining their favor by playing the role of a family man; money is not an option because of the risk of scandal; the country is beyond compromise; all that’s left is coercion and excitement.

He wants the public afraid, preoccupied with terrorism and unwilling to make a drastic political change in the White House. He tries to keep control by manipulating the terrorist situation and the media’s coverage of it to engineer moral panic throughout the country. He coerces his own country’s population with psychological force.

The effect? Well, we’ll find out next season but I’m willing to bet he wins the election.

In summary…

According to elite theory, there are groups of elites holding power over ordinary people. As a result of the tide of opinion, sometimes these elites need to employ forms of deception in order to maintain their control.  

In the next two articles on the art of deception, we will explore the psychology of persuasion and then the principal agent theory. Each of these will provide more insight into the concept of deception in politics.

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