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Ask HN: Have there been any dictators who do community good?

7 points by hguhghuff ↗ HN
Dictators seem to always do bad and selfish things.

Have there been any who impose a regime of doing good things for the community?

7 comments

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simpsonovich
Dictators can do a whole lot of good (for certain definitions of "good") by ordering for things to happen. Say, like building roads and hospitals in backwater shitholes of their land. It's good in the sense that people in the said poor communities get access to some amenities, but can be bad in the sense that dictators can simply order doctors, teachers and engineers relocate to the said backwater against their wish. For concrete examples, check out the history of Soviet Union and Cuba.
Raed667
Any "good" they do, is offset by the systematic oppression they put in place to sustain their dictatorship.
coretx
Technically, all dictators do good if you're talking about the original definition. Someone temporarily given absolute power during times of crisis in order to resolve said crisis. It's the nature of ( power ) politics where it goes wrong as in politics nearly anything temporary tends to become permanent and institutional. This is where the good dictator turns into a benevolent or bad one.
dangerface
Dictators don't have all the annoying paper work of democracies so they are a lot faster and more focused, handy if you live in a developing nation. Generally they are focused on getting the dictator all the things they want. Often the dictator wastes money on nice cars sure, but they also spend money on roads to drive them. Bad leadership is often better than none, especially when the dictator wants things that benefit everyone like food and electricity. We think of dictators as one person vs a nation but the many will always win that fight, the many allow them selves to be ruled as they think its in their interest, some times it is.

I live in the uk which is ruled by the dictator the queen of England, technically she can overthrow parliament and in the past when parliament have been seen as corrupt this has happened.

Is a dictator removing a corrupt parliament a good thing? or a bad sign the dictator is corrupt?

aglavine
The problem with dictatorships is in the very nature of their organizational system. It doesn't incentive self-initiative, trust, discussion or criticism, so most of the time their team are a bunch of pusillanimous fools, the smartest people will run away to places where they're listened and trusted.

That said, I'm sure a couple of dictators in history must have been good-doers and built a healthy working environment. However, without clear rules and controls, the next in line can do a lot of harm, since it is proven in history that great power attracts and promotes predatory people.