Most westerners would be shocked at how common a very similar sentiment can be globally. Especially in low income developing countries, the appeal of a “benevolent dictator” is open topic of conversation. Mostly based on recollection of some leader like that in the 70s or 80s with a sense of societal discipline (and often ignorance of ethic cleansing that didn’t apply to the prison taking).
I wonder if part of this is because, especially if you living memory of the preceding monarchical period, presumably the last authoritarian was the one who opened up government to democratic practices, meaning they very well might have been atypically benevolent. That said, this could be completely nonsense. Literally just an avoiding-work-thought.
Not really. In my experience it’s that the last authoritarian was the same ethnic group as a legacy group often in power, and so there worst effects didn’t hit most people from that group. It was also a period of respect for the authoritarian, so fear alone wasn’t what drove compliance with laws. So people conflate what amounts to a homoginized ethnocentric power structure to the benefits alone. It’s really not too dissimilar from the MAGA ethos that things were better “back then” and it just so happens that “back then” was before the Civil Rights Movement.
Ill never forget going to Mt Etna in Sicily and seeing a Benito Mussolini sculpture in the gift shop. I thought it was a joke at first, but no, they really did support Benito Mussolini. Ignorant bastards.
I don’t think they would be shocked because it’s a common sentiment in the west too “Our country needs a strong leader!”
Thinking that is one of the few cases where it would be justified for people to lose political rights.Most westerners would be shocked at how common a very similar sentiment can be globally.
Really? It’s exactly that which got Trump elected.
Most, not all.
I would guess that of you polled the average American or European, they would expect the political leanings of most of the developing world to be far more to the left than reality.
Left and right aren’t the dimensions that bother me. It’s “authoritarian/democratic” that is the problem.
There’s dozens of them! Dozens!
People want state religion. Disgusting.
That is a good direction.
