Dictatorship is perceived negatively in today’s society; however, certain situations call for dictatorship. War-torn African and Middle Eastern nations tend to thrive with benevolent dictators who rule with an iron first to maintain peace and economic development. Singapore is often used to promote benevolent dictatorship, in 1960; Singapore was one of the poorest nations struggling with poverty and a host of social problems. Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew took over the reins of leadership in 1965 and transformed Singapore into one of the biggest economies today. Benevolent dictators use their power to come up with policies that will improve the society.
Benevolent dictators are authoritarian leaders who exercise absolute political power with the interests of the people at heart. Benevolent dictators come into power like the conventional dictators to correct a weakness in the government. Once in power, the dictator has absolute power that cannot be challenged. Benevolent dictators are different from conventional dictators because they rule with rationality. They are not motivated by suppressing all forms of criticism and support, especially those that can improve the state of the nation. Nonetheless, benevolent dictators control the political aspect of the society, but they control it with some form of sanity (Maffettone, 2016). Benevolent dictators will not resort to excessive cruelty and oppression as used by tyrants.
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Dictatorship is a controversial form of leadership, but a necessary one in certain occasions. Benevolent dictatorship is a perfect form of government whereby the dictator is in charge of all the decisions and no one can interfere. The problem is determining which decisions are good for the society, and the best way to implement them. Power can be corrupting; even the greatest leaders in history have succumbed to the trappings of power and forgot their mission. Hence, benevolent dictatorship should be guided by policies (first principles) to check the leader and ensure attainment of the best possible society. The first principles are: upholding freedom and rights, fairness, unity of vision and accountability. These principles will guide policy making to ensure an effective process of creating the best possible society.
Dictatorship is hated in today’s society because dictators in history have failed to uphold human rights and freedom. Dictators often use their power to infringe on the rights of certain individuals or groups that against the dictator. A benevolent dictator should aim to uphold the rights and freedom of all individuals in the society by all means because a leader who violates human rights is not benevolent. Many conflicts are sparked by the failure to protect fundamental human rights. People will rise against the leader if the leader intentionally violates human rights because he is in a position to do so. In most cases, the freedom of expression and association is limited in a dictatorship, but the other fundamental rights must be upheld to create the best possible society where everyone is respected.
Different forms of government, whether a liberal, utilitarianism, Marxism or even capitalism is guided by the need to respect human rights. In a liberal government, individual liberty is the guiding principle. Liberals assert that governments must grant its citizens the freedom from undue restraints that can derail individual progress. Liberal governments also champion equality, economic freedom and limited democratic government intervention, these policies are quite different from the principle of benevolent dictatorship.
Another “first principle” that will guide policy making is equality. A benevolent dictator will succeed in creating the best possible society by applying the principle of fairness in policy making. Fairness is a crucial concept in today’s diverse society. All members of the society want to be treated fairly; they want to be accorded the same treatment regardless of their differences. A benevolent leader must strive to be perceived as fair by all citizens, when he is perceived as fair, the citizens are likely to trust and respect the leader. The notion of a “tough but fair” leader is often respected both in the economic and political realms. A tough and fair leader will apply the rules to everyone equally even to those who are close to the leader. Fairness creates a sense of unity in the community, and community members will take pride in knowing that they are equal in the eyes of the law.
The principle of fairness is borrowed from the different forms of governments, particularly the Marxist government. Karl Marx became popular by criticizing capitalism fiercely because it promotes unfairness. In a capitalist society, the few rich individuals (bourgeoisie) exploit the poor majority members of the society. Marx proposed communism as an alternative to capitalism, whereby the poor members of the society are enlightened to come together and challenge the status quo in an effort to create a society where everyone is treated equally (Davis, 2013). Fairness promotes a society where everyone is equal.
The third principle is unity of vision. Benevolent dictators are motivated by a vision to create the best possible society, but the leader has to acknowledge that his vision might not be shared by everyone else in the society. The leader must assess public opinion and seek the views of other knowledgeable people in the society before making important decisions. A benevolent dictator will only stay true to his/her mission by creating policies and processes that maximize good.
Utilitarianism is an approach to government based on the principle of promoting maximum happiness. John Stuart Mill came up with the concept of utilitarianism to criticize classical and rigid approaches to leadership. Mill believed that the society should focus on promoting happiness, pleasure and minimizing pain (Mulgan, 2014). Mill’s utilitarianism is often interpreted to support benevolent dictatorship. Benevolent dictators attempt to do good for the society through authoritarian rule. Unlike tyrants, benevolent dictators try to minimize pay, and they try to maximize on the good by working with others to form and implement a unified vision.
Nonetheless, Mill did not support the idea of benevolent dictatorship as he favored democracy over any other form of government (Mulgan, 2014). Mill argued that even if a benevolent dictator is capable of meeting the needs of people, the fact that the dictatorship denies citizens political participation is wrong. Mill also expressed his concerns that benevolent dictators will find it hard to keep up with his/her benevolent ideas over time.
The last principle is accountability. Dictatorship is criticized heavily due to lack of accountability. Historical dictators such as Stalin, Idi Amin and Mao Tse-Tung lacked accountability. These leaders committed a lot of crimes and came up with policies that led to the deaths of millions of people and took no responsibility for their actions. Dictators like Idi Amin and Mao were once viewed as a beacon of hope by their people, but due to lack of accountability, they realized that they could get away with anything. Benevolent dictators must create rules, policies and surround himself/ herself with individuals who will evaluate the leader’s actions to ensure that they are in the best interest of the society.
Accountability refers to the assurance that the leader’s action will be evaluated against his/her goals. When a benevolent dictator takes over leadership, the dictator will come up with socio-economic and political goals for the nations. Aside from the main goals, the leader will also develop strategies, institutions and processes to ensure the attainment of the goals. The benevolent dictator must make a promise to maintain accountability; otherwise the leader will head in the direction of tyrants. A benevolent leader must create a committee or a body responsible for evaluating the leader’s progress based on all forms of evaluation metrics.
The principles of upholding human rights and freedom, fairness, unity of vision and accountability are necessary in the creation of the best possible society. These principles will keep the leader in check and guide the policy making process. The principles will also protect the benevolent dictator from making common mistakes made by tyrants. Mistakes such as extreme injustices, intimidation of the media, lack of accountability and torturing opponents are some of the mistakes that often lead to the downfall of dictators. All these mistakes can be avoided if the “first” principles are applied effectively to every aspect of the government. All principles complement each other, and they must be applied to all forms of policies.
Evidently, the above “first principles” for the benevolent dictatorship borrow from the different types of government. For example, the principle of respecting human rights and freedoms is a fundamental principle in liberalism. Liberalism supports the kind of government where individual liberty is prioritized. Liberalism also values equality, rule of law, economic freedom, hence it is often related to capitalism. On the other hand, the principles of fairness and accountability are related to utilitarianism, Marxism and even Capitalism. Though, John Stuart Mill supported a democratic form of government, utilitarianism is the best theoretical foundation of the benevolent dictatorship. A benevolent dictator aims to maximize the good for the maximum people in the society; such a person is willing to deny the people their political rights for the sake of socioeconomic progress in the society. Utilitarianism approach condones policies that maximize on good as long as the bad is minimized, an approach used by benevolent dictators too.
In conclusion, benevolent dictatorship is a justified form of leadership that should be explored when other options have failed. Certain nations have thrived under benevolent dictators or democracies that leaned towards dictatorship. Dictatorship as a form of leadership can be shaped by the person in power, Stalin had no more power than other dictators, he only misused it. Benevolent dictators have to understand that they took over leadership in an effort to create the best possible society, hence they must put in place principles and policies aimed at creating the best society for everyone. Benevolent dictators must use their powers for good, and learn to be accountable; otherwise they will be like any other tyrants that have destroyed nations.
References
Davis, B. (2013). 9.5 theses on art and class . New York, NY: Haymarket Books.
Maffettone, P. (2016). Should We Tolerate Benevolent Absolutisms?. Social Theory and Practice , 42 (3), 525-554.
Mulgan, T. (2014). Understanding utilitarianism . Howick Place, London: Routledge.
