From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The benevolent dictatorship is a more modern
version of enlightened absolutism, being an
undemocratic or authoritarian leader who exercises his or
her political power for the benefit of the people rather than
exclusively for his or her own self-interest or benefit, or for the
benefit of only a small portion of the people. A benevolent
dictator, for example, may focus government priorities on matters
of public importance, such as healthcare, education, population
control, or general city infrastructure. According to the Donella Meadows
Archive former prime minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew was a benevolent
dictator.[1] He or
she may be committed to peaceful
relations, rather than wars or invasions of other states, and may
even allow for some democratic decision-making to exist, such as
through public referendums.
Alistair
Cooke described Franklin
Delano Roosevelt's presidency in the two years from his
inauguration to Supreme Court's declaration that the National Recovery
Administration was unconstitutional, as a benevolent
dictatorship.[2]
Characteristics
Most dictators' regimes
unfailingly portray themselves as benevolent, and often tend to
regard democratic regimes as messy, inefficient, and corrupt. Additionally, many
dictators may attempt to openly spread misinformation about their
benevolence in an attempt to create a personality
cult.
In the Spanish language, the word dictablanda is sometimes used for a
dictatorship conserving some of the liberties and mechanisms of democracy. (The pun is
that, in Spanish, dictadura is "dictatorship",
dura is "hard" and blanda is "soft").
Open Source
Usage
In the modern era, the term benevolent dictator has also been
applied to leaders of an open source
software project that have final control over the direction and
content of software developed by a larger group of programmers. Because open source software
may be forked, non-benevolent
dictatorships do not generally occur.
See also
References
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