Why Not a Benevolent Dictator !
Why not a benevolent Dictator !
I was quite taken aback by this question put to me by a friend last evening. He was obviously shaken by the images of continuous corruption scandals, inability of state to provide basic things like security to people, and more sinister lack of acknowledgement that things are going astray.
I remember the times in college debates when we used to actively debate the obvious benefits of democracy over dicatotorship. There were ready examples next door-Pakistan provided enough examples of mis-governance, abuse of human rights,lack of rights etc to proponents of democracy. Even though there was much to be desired in our own backyard in terms of governance, and execution of rule of law in the country the general consensus was that we never actually thought that in our lifetimes we will reach a stage where we will again debate if benevolent dictator is better than a government steeped in crony capitalism, inaction, and a malevolent desire to subvert the democratic institutions of this country.
Students of history would recall that Germany between the First World War and Second World war was a country stripped of national pride due to humiliation perpetrated by France and England and there was a general feeling of national shame among people. Hitler merely used this perception among people to build a grandiose vision of Aryan supremacy to initiate a militarist regime and genocide.A country by definition is always looking for someone to come up on stage and lead the people. When people who have been given the mandate to govern fail, it creates a vacuum. It is in this space than anarchy and violence breeds.
Our present situation is precarious in the same way. I am not sure if this is another round of one-upmanship which our political class play to manage the voter sentiment for a clear mandate or this is some anti national elements infiltrating all our institutions or plain simple greed and lack of will to govern among political class and bureaucracy.
The answers need to emerge among us !
I was quite taken aback by this question put to me by a friend last evening. He was obviously shaken by the images of continuous corruption scandals, inability of state to provide basic things like security to people, and more sinister lack of acknowledgement that things are going astray.
I remember the times in college debates when we used to actively debate the obvious benefits of democracy over dicatotorship. There were ready examples next door-Pakistan provided enough examples of mis-governance, abuse of human rights,lack of rights etc to proponents of democracy. Even though there was much to be desired in our own backyard in terms of governance, and execution of rule of law in the country the general consensus was that we never actually thought that in our lifetimes we will reach a stage where we will again debate if benevolent dictator is better than a government steeped in crony capitalism, inaction, and a malevolent desire to subvert the democratic institutions of this country.
Students of history would recall that Germany between the First World War and Second World war was a country stripped of national pride due to humiliation perpetrated by France and England and there was a general feeling of national shame among people. Hitler merely used this perception among people to build a grandiose vision of Aryan supremacy to initiate a militarist regime and genocide.A country by definition is always looking for someone to come up on stage and lead the people. When people who have been given the mandate to govern fail, it creates a vacuum. It is in this space than anarchy and violence breeds.
Our present situation is precarious in the same way. I am not sure if this is another round of one-upmanship which our political class play to manage the voter sentiment for a clear mandate or this is some anti national elements infiltrating all our institutions or plain simple greed and lack of will to govern among political class and bureaucracy.
The answers need to emerge among us !
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