Perhaps it would be more accurate to state “The structural dynamics of dictatorial regimes demands coercion be used, while decentralized power systems allow dissent”; even the Philosopher King must murder upstarts who would take the throne. Mass Driver’s comments (below) support this, with Lee Kuan Yew’s power requiring violent coercion being performed on his behalf, and the examples of Democratic Despotism largely boil down to a lack of accountability and transparency in the elected leaders—essentially they became (have become) too powerful.
“Power corrupts” is just the colloquial form.
(It is possible that I am in a Death Spiral with this idea, but this analysis occurred to me spontaneously—I didn’t go seeking out an explanation that fit my theory)
Voted up for precision. I see decentralization of power as less relevant than regime stability as an enabler of non-violence. Kings in long-standing monarchies, philosophical or not, need use little violence. New dictators (classically called tyrants) need use much violence. In addition, they have the advantage of having been selected for ability and the disadvantage of having been poorly educated for their position.
Of course, power ALWAYS scales up the impact of your actions. Lets say that I’m significantly more careful than average. In that case, my worst actions include doing things that have a .1% chance of killing someone every decade. Scale that up by ten million and its roughly equivalent to killing ten thousand people once during a decade long reign over a mid-sized country. I’d call that much better than Lincoln (who declared marshal law and was an elected dictator if Hitler was one) or FDR but MUCH worse than Deng. OTOH, Lincoln and FDR lived in an anarchy, the international community, and I don’t. I couldn’t be as careful/scrupulous as I am if I lived in an anarchy.
Perhaps it would be more accurate to state “The structural dynamics of dictatorial regimes demands coercion be used, while decentralized power systems allow dissent”; even the Philosopher King must murder upstarts who would take the throne. Mass Driver’s comments (below) support this, with Lee Kuan Yew’s power requiring violent coercion being performed on his behalf, and the examples of Democratic Despotism largely boil down to a lack of accountability and transparency in the elected leaders—essentially they became (have become) too powerful.
“Power corrupts” is just the colloquial form.
(It is possible that I am in a Death Spiral with this idea, but this analysis occurred to me spontaneously—I didn’t go seeking out an explanation that fit my theory)
Voted up for precision.
I see decentralization of power as less relevant than regime stability as an enabler of non-violence. Kings in long-standing monarchies, philosophical or not, need use little violence. New dictators (classically called tyrants) need use much violence. In addition, they have the advantage of having been selected for ability and the disadvantage of having been poorly educated for their position.
Of course, power ALWAYS scales up the impact of your actions. Lets say that I’m significantly more careful than average. In that case, my worst actions include doing things that have a .1% chance of killing someone every decade. Scale that up by ten million and its roughly equivalent to killing ten thousand people once during a decade long reign over a mid-sized country. I’d call that much better than Lincoln (who declared marshal law and was an elected dictator if Hitler was one) or FDR but MUCH worse than Deng. OTOH, Lincoln and FDR lived in an anarchy, the international community, and I don’t. I couldn’t be as careful/scrupulous as I am if I lived in an anarchy.