Voters in 19 countries, including in three of the world’s largest democracies, are widely skeptical about whether their political elections are free and fair, and many favor a strong, undemocratic leader, according to a study released Thursday.
The report by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, or International IDEA, concluded that “democratic institutions are falling short of people’s expectations.” The 35-member organization promotes democracy worldwide.
”It is past time that people’s perceptions are centered in conversations about the future of democracy; this analysis is a small but important first step towards that effort,” the Stockholm-based organization wrote.
The surveys had a margin of error hovering around 2-4% and the number of respondents in each country was around 1,500. The sole exception was the Solomon Islands, where the small population meant they had a representative sample of 526 people, IDEA said.
Everyone assumes the dictator would be doing what they want.
My last Suzerain playthrough I was a dictator. I managed to change the constitution to give me a bunch of power, with that I got rid of all the corruption either politically or…“discreetly”. Nationalised all the corporations, reformed workers and women’s rights, balanced taxation of the rich and poor, removed racism from the government, crippled the nationalists, improved free healthcare, gave higher education opportunity to the poor, aligned with the communist superpower, and brought peace to the region by exposing aggressors diplomatically, which in turn boosted trade with other nations and improved the economy.
Everyone was happy.
All this took was a heap of shady shit until I was in control and a whole lot of, “It’ll get better. Trust me.” with the citizens.
In the real world the benevolence lasts until the next leader takes over and uses that consolidated power to turn it into an authoritarian hellhole.
Or it ends even sooner, as when you stop doing the shady shit the people benefiting from the shady shit will overthrow you and have someone else double down on the shady shit.
Yeah, they say power corrupts, but it is because the corrupt seek power and will use corruption to get and keep power.
You can’t fight corruption with bare-knuckled honesty and a plucky devotion to fair-play. There are two ways to fight corruption, with overwhelming force and zero tolerance, or with more crafty corruption.
But the line between zero tolerance and despotism is thin and wavy.
Yeah, I figured post-game and at the end of my reign, I either have to install another like me or dissolve all powers I used for good, return to democracy, and hope it all kept working out peachy.
A return to democracy won’t work because they already associate authoritarianism with benevolence. Trying to hand it to someone else rarely worked out for the few nobility that were better than average.
Honestly people will ruin whatever after a few generations when they don’t see the negstives anymore.
Why am I still paying those IT security folk? We haven’t had any data leaks in years!
Well, my character at least had a finger snap moment in history where everyone on that empire of dirt was happy and well-looked after.
Maybe he did the right thing and launched the nukes on his death bed so everyone else got to die happy as well. One last authoritarian action of goodwill.
Exactly,
I never thought the leopards would eat my face