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Jiawei Tan

How Dictators stay in power. - 6 views

www.thedailybeast.com/...-dictator-protection-plan.html

shared by Jiawei Tan on 07 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Jiawei Tan on 07 Feb 12
     
    2. 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...
  • Jiawei Tan on 07 Feb 12
     
    In this article, the dictators stay in power because they have a tight bond with people of higher control over it's people. It's like they have an underground gang of people who would protect the current dictator in power, and if he ever passes away, someone else would take over power, and rule the same way as their predecessor. There are three reasons given: 1. They have cronies that protect each other. 2. They own the military, that enforces dictatorship, and does the rulers bidding. 3. Corrupted law enforces, spies and private investigators to maintain peaceful following of rules. These three reasons show how dictators have control over a country, and ensures no internal forces are able to overturn his reign.
  • Dylan Leong on 07 Feb 12
     
    Dude, I've also found that there are mainly two clear type of dictators. The Charismatic one and The Oppressive one. The charismatic one is the sly one who will somehow find a way to "mesmerize" their citizens until the people will simply worship and adore them without even noticing they are being oppressed. While in the mean time, getting their secret police to eliminate all political rivals. Not mainly on those who set their sights on the throne of power but more so on those who are planning and able to open the citizen's eyes to the truth about the dictator and what is really happening around. The oppressive one will just set out to strike fear in everyone. They rule with tyranny and will stop at nothing to eliminate those who plan on or are against their rule. The people of their rule will thus fear them and will not dare rise up against them. Rebellion will never be tolerated, only obedience counts.
  • Jiawei Tan on 07 Feb 12
     
    So essentially, dictators stay in power because they can control the citizens in the country, either by mesmerising them, or scaring them. But isn't that really how they became to power in the first place. They must have a way to have the citizens in constant fear or be consistently mesmerised, so as not to lose that power. So maybe these dictators really just control all activities, and any activity found suspicious of going against government would be immediately stopped, and people involved would be punished harshly, and publicly, to strike fear in all people. So ultimately, it's fear that keeps them in power, right?
  • Shi Min Koh on 07 Feb 12
     
    I 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 12
     
    Thank 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!
Syeda Mahera

Why Singapore Has the Cleanest Government Money Can Buy: View - Bloomberg - 7 views

www.bloomberg.com/...rnment-money-can-buy-view.html

shared by Syeda Mahera on 07 Feb 12 - No Cached
    • Syeda Mahera
      Syeda Mahera on 07 Feb 12
       
      Graft - corrupt practices i.e. Sweeping measures are being taken to curb official graft.
    • Syeda Mahera
      Syeda Mahera on 07 Feb 12
       
      Muckraking - the action of searching out and publicizing scandalous information about famous people in an underhanded way.
    • moses tan
      moses tan on 07 Feb 12
       
      That's great that you included the element of underhandedness. Without that, the answer would be wrong.
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