Democracy has become a favored form of government in Western parlance. And autocracy has become a dirty word. Yet, history does not support such a comprehensive judgment. Just to mention, in broad-brush terms, a few possible exceptions:
Germany’s democratic Weimar Republic performed so badly as to open the gates to Hitler’s Third Reich. Kaiser Wilhelm’s autocracy performed much better during the early years of the twentieth century.
British autocratic rule over Hong Kong offers one of the finest examples of governance in the history of mankind.
Singapore’s long-lived one-party autocracy continuously positions Singapore second in the index of economic freedom.
The Allende democratic majority in Chile brought the nation to economic ruin. It took a General Pinochet dictatorship to promote Chile from third to second world status.
The Chavez democratic majority in Venezuela has brought the holder the world’s largest oil reserves to economic ruin.
British economic performance under limited democracy 1689-1884 arguably was far superior to British performance under an expanded suffrage following the passage of the Third Reform Act in 1884.
Readers will easily identify other exceptions to current political correctness on this issue.
Readers may care to think about the implications of such ‘evidence’ for the future of those Middle Eastern countries that move from secular dictatorship to Islamic ‘democracy’.
With respect to Egypt, the ‘democratic’ rule of Mohamed (Moriarty) Morsi quickly springs to mind!
