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Rodrigo Duterte. Strongmen often enjoy broad popular support. They get things done. Mussolini made the trains run on time. A cult of personality is how an aut

Rodrigo Duterte. Strongmen often enjoy broad popular support. They get things done. Mussolini made the trains run on time. A cult of personality is how an authoritarian leader defends themselves from being overthrown by other members of their regime. They ensure that they are associated with all the good that their government does, while deflecting blame for the bad towards scapegoats. Worrying about fairness or the rule of law is a luxury. A lot of people just see a weak and ineffectual government replaced with one that actually does something for them and they don't care how it was achieved. I wish you were right. It would be much easier to defend against authoritarians if they were unpopular.

bogomipz 8y ago
Duterte was democratically elected. He will be stepping down in 2022 and has already been voicing his support for Ferdinand Marcos Jr. >"Strongmen often enjoy broad popular support." "Strongman" is not even a real political term its a media term invented in the US media and first applied to General Noriega of Panama. The term doesn't even necessarily apply to official the head of state as was the case with Noriega. >"Mussolini made the trains run on time." No this is not actually true. See: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/loco-motive/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/loco-motive/ And my question was regarding authoritarian regimes of the 21st century. The rise of Mussolini was very much tied the consequences of World War 1 on Italy.
- slavik81 8y ago
  > Duterte was democratically elected. Yes. That's why I mentioned him. He is a legitimately popular politician with a strong authoritarian streak. If I wanted to give you other examples of authoritarians, I would have suggested Hugo Chavez, Vladimir Putin, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They've all had their ups and downs in popularity, but mostly based on economic conditions. China would have been the most relevant example to use, but it's more difficult to prove popularity without elections. Still, both official approval ratings[1] and anecdotal discussions[2] suggest that the government is particularly popular among those in rural areas who have seen rapid modernization. [1]: https://www.economist.com/china/2015/04/11/the-critical-masses https://www.economist.com/china/2015/04/11/the-critical-mass... [2]: https://www.quora.com/In-general-how-popular-are-the-Communist-Party-and-the-Chinese-government-to-the-ordinary-citizen-of-China https://www.quora.com/In-general-how-popular-are-the-Communi...

bogomipz 8y ago

Duterte was democratically elected. He will be stepping down in 2022 and has already been voicing his support for Ferdinand Marcos Jr. >"Strongmen often enjoy broad popular support." "Strongman" is not even a real political term its a media term invented in the US media and first applied to General Noriega of Panama. The term doesn't even necessarily apply to official the head of state as was the case with Noriega. >"Mussolini made the trains run on time." No this is not actually true. See: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/loco-motive/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/loco-motive/ And my question was regarding authoritarian regimes of the 21st century. The rise of Mussolini was very much tied the consequences of World War 1 on Italy.

slavik81 8y ago
> Duterte was democratically elected. Yes. That's why I mentioned him. He is a legitimately popular politician with a strong authoritarian streak. If I wanted to give you other examples of authoritarians, I would have suggested Hugo Chavez, Vladimir Putin, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. They've all had their ups and downs in popularity, but mostly based on economic conditions. China would have been the most relevant example to use, but it's more difficult to prove popularity without elections. Still, both official approval ratings[1] and anecdotal discussions[2] suggest that the government is particularly popular among those in rural areas who have seen rapid modernization. [1]: https://www.economist.com/china/2015/04/11/the-critical-masses https://www.economist.com/china/2015/04/11/the-critical-mass... [2]: https://www.quora.com/In-general-how-popular-are-the-Communist-Party-and-the-Chinese-government-to-the-ordinary-citizen-of-China https://www.quora.com/In-general-how-popular-are-the-Communi...