How Dictators stay in power. - 6 views
-
Jiawei Tan on 07 Feb 122. What are some reasons why dictators managed to hold on to their power for so long? An article that might help in answering this question.
- ...3 more comments...
-
Shi Min Koh on 07 Feb 12I agree that fear keeps the dictators in power. However, fear may also lead to resentment among the oppressed people and eventually, there will be someone who from the crowd to rebel against the dictatorship. So other than fear, i think that dictators can stay in power due to strong censorship. For example, censorship in North Korea. During the world cup, North Korea's soccer team has suffered a humiliating defeat of 7-0 to Portugal. However, the North Korean TV reporters had excluded the loss of the team and other pieces of news that boosts the image of then leader, Kim Jong Il has been reported. Examples include, "Kim Jong Il's Feats Lauded In Various Countries," "US, Provoker of Korean War," and "Revenge-vowing Meetings Held". So other then fear, it is censorship that helps to control the citizens. By limiting information from the citizens, the citizens remain narrow-minded and they fear to break apart from their current lifestyles. They feel that their leader has been doing a great job, bringing about great prosperity to the nation (refer to Kim Jong Il's newspaper reports) . Although these people are not given a alternative government, however, given a chance, these people, who have been brainwashed about their leader's might may not want a alternative. This, through censorship, the dictators "control" the thinking of their people and "mesmerize" them and follow the rule of dictatorship.
-
moses tan on 07 Feb 12Thank you, Jiawei. That was a good article. "Mesmerise" is used wrongly. Please check the dictionary. The article is based mostly on the Middle East's dictators. (So I'm glad that Shi Min brought up North Korea.) It is still a good article because it explores several methods of oppression. In North Korea's case, other than their heavy censorship, propaganda that is aimed at brainwashing the N Koreans to revere their leaders as gods has proven to be very effective. But one can argue that fear plays a vital role in authoritarian regimes. As the article suggests, the one in power could very well be the big mafia godfather!