In an article in The Washington Post, it states that “We are now a quarter-century into expectations that Chinese economic growth, which has created a substantial middle class, would inevitably lead to greater political openness. Yet the trend has been in the opposite direction, as Chinese ruler Xi Jinping centralizes all power to himself and the government experiments with ever more thorough methods of political and social control.” Though democracy is usually linked to a country’s economic development, it is not the case for China. Despite being an economically strong country, China is still ruled under a dictator. So what is the real reason why China is still ruled under dictatorship? In my opinion, being able to have absolute control over a state is a motivation for leaders to continue their rule of dictatorship as they would have absolute political power in the state and that would mean not having to answer to anyone for the decisions being made. Also, what is the determining factor to a state’s survival and maintenance of dictatorship? I believe that the determining factor would be the dictator’s personal charisma.
II. Background: Very brief description of event/situation, highlighting pieces of information
which will be pertinent to the theoretical answer to the research question.
China is known as one of the super powers in the world, having one of the largest economy. However they are still ruled under dictatorship despite the theory that economic development is usually linked to a state’s democratization. Generally, democratic states are usually the richer states. Yet, China’s leader did not lead his country to democratization and still holds on to absolute power in the state.
III. Description of Theory: Explain the theory or concept that you will be using to answer your question. What are the key assumptions, concepts and predictions of the theory? This
discussion should not refer to your event/situation; the theory should stand on its own.
According to the common political science dictum “no middle class, no democracy” which is found in the reading by O’Neil, it meant that that middle class played an important part in being able to achieve democracy in a state. However despite the large middle class in China, China is still ruled under dictatorship. Though it is often argued that states are ruled by dictators due to a lack of economic development, it is contradicting as super powers such as China and the United States are still ruled by dictators. A reason may be because being able to control absolute power in a state stops leaders from democratizing their states. An authoritarian regime is defined as having power or authority concentrated in a single individual or a small group of people. This causes the control of power to be very centralized and usually leads to a single political leader having absolute power over all of its people.
In my opinion, I assert that the determining factor of dictatorship is actually the charisma of the ruler. Though there are other factors that led to the origin of dictatorship, a charismatic leader is an essential factor in ensuring the survival and maintenance of the dictatorship. A charismatic leader ensures that the people would be influenced and convinced into following and obeying his rule. Many dictators also control the media by ensuring only news that are favorable to them are published. They use the media as a form of propaganda to promote their image as a leader and brainwashes people to believe that their leader is the supreme and “chosen one”. This leads to many dictators being worshipped by their people as idols, believing that their leader does everything to better improve the state. Therefore, personality cults are very common in dictatorships. Adolf Hitler, one of the most well-known dictators in history, used propaganda posters to portray himself as a authoritative and wise leader that would help bring Nazi Germany to greater heights. The posters made use of bright colors and even uses youths and women in the posters to encourage people to believe that the ruling of Hitler has improved the lives of the people. An example would be a poster which tells German women to protect their families by voting for Hitler. Hitler was smart in effectively using media to his favor and brainwashing his people to continue to support him as their leader. Moreover, he had great charisma as a leader and that further convinced people to listen to his rallies and get persuaded by it. Hence, a charismatic leader that knows how to effectively use the media in his favor is essential in ensuring the survival and maintenance of the dictatorship.
Even the most despotic authoritarian regimes need to manage two constituencies which include the people and the ruling elite. The dictatorship of the regime can be challenged by the masses through popular protests and dictators would also need loyalists to manage the bureaucracy, courts, military, political party and legislature. Dictatorships can be maintained through coercion and surveillance. This includes the threat of or actual use of force and using the intelligence, police and security apparatus to spy and forcibly ensure compliance. Doing so removes all personal freedom of the individuals and allows all their actions to be monitored constantly so as to ensure none of them attempts to go against the dictator. Fear is a very essential tool in controlling the regime. Many dictators are known to create fear among their people, to control their people and make the people obey them obediently.
In recent years, there has been a rise in authoritarianism. This is because the people living under dictatorships would rarely go against their dictators, either due to fear or because they are completely brainwashed by their leaders.