Autocracy revolves around the ego of the autocrat. Usually the autocrat’s message is something along the lines of “I alone can solve all your problems, and your

Autocracy revolves around the ego of the autocrat. Usually the autocrat’s message is something along the lines of “I alone can solve all your problems, and your problems are because of those people”, where “those people” are usually some minority ehtnic, national, or religious group. Obviously not all of the problems in the world are due to these people. Therefore autocracies are heavily invested in obfuscating the truth, gaslighting populations with propaganda, takeovers of national media, and jailing or execution of dissidents. After all, you can’t have people going around saying the autocrat is not the solution to everything and “those” people aren’t the one and only problem. People might start to get ideas. Thus the downward spiral begins. This is why autocracies are unstable. They require an ever shifting narrative about why things are so bad. The real reason things go to shit under autocracies is because no one in charge is invested in solving real problems. The problems that autocracies aim to solve are made up to incite people and to appease egos. They aren’t evidence based because following the evidence would reveal shockingly that the autocrat doesn’t have all the solutions.