The morphing of dictators: why dictators get worse over time

[Coss]

The morphing of dictators: why dictators get worse over time  Kaushik Basu - Oxford Open Economics, Volume 2, 2023,  Published: 14 February 2023

LINK

Abstract:

Dictators, even those who seize power with the intention of helping the nation, frequently morph over time into tyrants. There may be many reasons for this. This paper focuses on one interesting and arguably pervasive driver behind this process. A model is developed which shows that the series of decisions taken over time by an authoritarian leader concerning how much political intrigue and evil to indulge in in order to stay in power leads to a dynamic inconsistency converting the leader into a tyrant. It is possible that the dictator will, eventually, come to regret this, but by then they have no exit options. The analysis prompts us to think about ex ante rules and term-limit provisions to prevent this from happening.

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I post the above as I found it interesting.

I'm not sure I have the brain power to understand it fully, or to argue one way or another.

It may be that others here, are enlightened.

I did like this:

"

Let me close by addressing a narrower matter, which arises directly from the above model. This concerns having global rules concerning term limit. A tyrannical leader in one nation can destabilize the world. So, ideally, we need a term-limit requirement built into an international charter or a global constitution. If the T, in the above game, is capped by a charter at 2, there will be only that much evil a leader can morph into. What is more important, is that leaders, being aware that they will have to exit, will be more conscious of their behavior when in office.8

It is possible to think of more immediate actions, that is, even before a global agreement is reached. For this, we have to get away from our propensity to think of nations as individuals or players. Thus the Cuban missile crisis is typically modeled as a two-player game, USA and USSR locked in a deadly Hawk-Dove scenario. Likewise, there is a body of writing on the war games in the Korean Peninsula and what we can do to avert disaster. This is conducted mostly in terms of a game between North Korea, USA, China and Russia, occasionally tossing in South Korea. Much of this is done again treating nations as players. When individuals are brought in, like Kim Jong-un, they are treated as having interests totally aligned with their own nation—‘Kim Jong-un is an ardent nationalist who regularly responds to threats by upping the ante’ (Menon, 2017).

What is not always recognized in popular discourse but is a central tenet of modern political economy, at least since the seminal work of Downs (1957), is that leaders have their own interests, which are not aligned with the interest of the nation. Many dictators who have long been in power may want to exit purely for their own interest, but they may not have a viable exit option9. They know that, once out of power, they will be punished by their own people or even killed by the generals.

It is not immediately clear how to solve this. Some may argue that the way to solve this is to create attractive exit options. This would amount to the US telling Kim Jong-un, ‘If you stop oppressing your people and threatening other nations, we will protect you by helping you leave your country, and give you a castle on a pacific island to settle in.’ This could help us deal with Kim Jong-un and promote peace in his nation and the world. But no problem in economics comes with the absolute final answer. If the US uses this strategy regularly for world peace, we will have another problem. Individuals with no interest in power and tyranny may now strive to become tyrants for no other reason but to get that castle in the Pacific Island.

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Which raises for me, the question of, why do we elect people who have no interest in serving the people who vote for them? Emphasis on serving.

[Old Hippie]

1 hour ago, Coss said:

Which raises for me, the question of, why do we elect people who have no interest in serving the people who vote for them? Emphasis on serving.

Because we are fools who get drooped. We applaud the vulgar obnoxious leader and his lackeys and side kick(s) and assume these people are acting in our best interests, when clearly they are lying. When the lies are pointed out, we are told it is the ““liberals” who control the media”, who are trying to weaken the good work dear leader is doing. When it is pointed out that we are worse off, we are told it is the fault of others…we will do nothing about it, We simply don’t care. 

[My Penis is hungry]

Jerry Rawlings Ghana, the dictator who proves the rule by wrong.

 

Overthrew corrupt UK approved government, turned country over to general elections

 

People elected crooked politicians 

 

Overthrew them then held elections running himself in honest elections 

 

He kept getting elected so he introduced term limits so people couldn't vote for him. 

 

Legally making it impossible for himself to stay in power.

 

Lousy dictator. 

 

Ghana a pretty good country by African standards. 

 

Not perfect but would rather be there than most other countries in Africa

[bust]

I remember when Morgan Tsvangirai was plotting the assassination of Robert Mugabe with five men in Montreal from the CIA and British Intelligence. All secretly recorded buy someone I discussed earlier with OH.

There are some very dangerous characters out there playing with the political landscape. The modern one runs giant corporations these days.

[Old Hippie]

53 minutes ago, bust said:

I remember when Morgan Tsvangirai was plotting the assassination of Robert Mugabe with five men in Montreal from the CIA and British Intelligence. All secretly recorded buy someone I discussed earlier with OH.

There are some very dangerous characters out there playing with the political landscape. The modern one runs giant corporations these days.

While your insistence that such a person exists, I have to say, that to the best of my knowledge, as of this time, as best I can recall at this time, no such person exists. I have therefore never, again to the best as I can recall, met such a person, nor do I even know if such a person even exists, which to neither confirm nor deny that such a person even exists, I am simply saying that as of now, to the best of my recollection, I have no idea to whom you are referring. If you can provide further details, maybe that will help, but I can’t promise, as I simply don’t know as of this time…that is my answer senator.