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[โ€“] 6 points 1 year ago* (8 children)

Experience shows democracies work better in just about every way. Mainly, there's questions about how stable they can be over the long term.

I've known people who liked the idea of a dictatorship, but they've all had funny ideas about how they internally work. Palace intrigue and corruption are inevitable and huge, it's never just one potentially-wise individual calling the shots.

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  • [โ€“] [S] -1 points 1 year ago* (6 children)

    So you could say that both suffer from a vulnerability. Both break eventually.

    Also, consider the attractiveness of dictatorship. I think that everybody would like to be a dictator. Who wants to share power? Not me. I want to be in control, of my forum, my project, my game.

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  • [โ€“] 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

    Dictatorship had a pretty clean run of several thousand years there. Sure, dynasties changed, but never the actual system.

    Also, consider the attractiveness of dictatorship. I think that everybody would like to be a dictator. Who wants to share power? Not me. I want to be in control, of my forum, my project, my game.

    So, my second paragraph kind of addresses that. It's never actually about one person having the power, as a government system.

    One-person control over something, backed by externally imposed laws, is a completely different thing. You don't have to worry about your forum members poisoning you and physically taking control of your server.

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  • [โ€“] 1 point 1 year ago (3 children)

    you think ancient and medieval monarchies were dictatorships? uh...

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)
  • [โ€“] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    no, i dont think kings had that kind of power without the support of a modern state. they were complicated arrangements of various oligarchies working together, or something like that.

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  • [โ€“] 2 points 1 year ago*

    Like I said in OP, that's how modern dictatorships work, too. They have coups and intrigues and corruption absolutely everywhere you look. The dictator spends most of their time just staying on top and keeping the factions in balance.

    I'd say you're right that the degree of control was lower on average before the conveniences of fast travel and communication, but then again it varied quite a bit. Rome's level of centralisation is still etched across the European landscape.

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