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I have three words for anyone who doesn't think authoritarianism can work out well in the long run -- Lee Kuan Yew. Thanks to him, Singapore is a single-party a

• lazide 3y ago
  For one generation. That isn’t the long run yet. He didn’t die that long ago. He also left a lot of angry Malays and Indians in his wake. Dictators worked out well for Rome for awhile! And Saddam did really turn Iraq around. The biggest issue IMO with Authoritarians is they tend to take out realistic competition (Cincinnatus excepted) and force everyone else to march in lockstep with them. Part of the ideology. So even if they do allow succession, it’s controlled and ‘monoculture’. Which long term (or even short term if done harshly enough) weakens the state and the population, as it makes everything rigid. It tends to snap instead of bend. But only time will tell. The CCP has also been doing pretty well by most standards too, and they have a ‘leader for life’ now too. Some kind of authoritarianism (by committee, dictator, king, etc) has been and is the historic norm, no?