Hi, I'm new/ The wizarding community/ Voldemort's rise to power

[itai_halevy at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 16314

There are several questions that have been troubling me. As almost 
anyone involved in business, management or government agrees, every 
body (and certainly every community) needs a head to govern it. In 
the case of a company or a factory this might be a CEO or a board of 
directors. In the case of a country- a government. Yet the leadership 
of the wizarding community in JKR's HP series is undefined and rather 
vague.
Sure, there's the "Ministry of Magic", but are they a ministry in the 
British government (like the Ministry of Agriculture for example)or 
are they the actual government of wizards?
Suppose they are an actual government, do the laws and restrictions 
apply to British wizards only or to wizards of other nations as well?
(in other words- is the "Ministry" an international body?).
What I'm aiming at is that there doesn't seem to be a person or a 
group of people leading the wizarding community. There's Fudge and 
the ministry- but to me they seem more a beaurocratic body than 
leadership. There's Dumbledore- to whom some look for guidance, but 
he is hardly the recognized leader of wizards worldwide.
I know that the "ministry" has legislative power as well as means of 
enforcement but I feel a lack of a body that decides on policy.

This leads to questions regarding Voldemort's rise to power.
1. Was practice of the Dark Arts outlawed before his rise to power?
2. Were Voldemort and the "Death Eaters" rebels against an existing 
system (by system I mean- laws, values, accepted behaviour, 
hierarchy, morals, etc.) or were they a "faction" or "party" in the 
wizarding community that was slowly gaining support and power (like 
Nazism for example)?
3. If they weren't a legitimate faction- were they all outlaws? I 
don't suppose all of the followers of Voldemort went into hiding at 
the time (some were of very influential families). This raises the 
possibility that Voldemort and some of his outright supporters were 
outlaws in hiding, while most of his followers were "dormant"- living 
ordinary lives and doing the Dark Lord's bidding in secret.
I don't think this was the case- as entire wizarding families were 
known supporters and I find it hard to believe that entire families 
went into hiding.
4. In short- the entire mechanism of Voldemort's rise to power is 
unexplained.


Possible Explanations:

1. The "Ministry" is an international government of wizards and 
witches. Dark magic had always been outlawed (ever since there was an 
acting ministry). Anyone practicing dark magic- does so secretly as 
did Tom Riddle at first.
Tom Riddle broke away from the lawful world, became an outlaw and 
started gaining support among some wizards who may or may not have 
have been dabbling in the dark arts before.
His outright supporters were outlaws. His subtler followers did his 
bidding in secret- never declaring outright support.
At a certain stage the ministry's control had so weakened that some 
of the secret followers became less worried about hiding their 
inclinations to the dark side. (this would have been close to the 
time Voldemort made the attempt on Harry's life and lost his powers-
leaving the newly revealled dark wizards the option of returning to 
the lines of light under various excuses).

2. The dark side legitimately gained support (as does a political 
party), inside the ministry as well. Voldemort was recognized as 
leader of this group.
When support was wide enough and Voldemort felt it was possible to 
seize control of the ministry, him and his followers resorted to 
forceful tactics (assassination, sabotage, ethnic/political 
cleansing, etc.). This would have again been close to his attempt on 
Harry's life (as a part of these "cleansings").


Anyway, I could raise endless questions about the government method 
of the wizarding world and about the possible mechanism of 
Voldemort's rise to power.

Anyone with thoughts and ideas on this matter, please send your 
opinion or possible scenario etc.

Thanks, Itai.