
Ask HN: Have there been any dictators who do community good? - hguhghuff
Dictators seem to always do bad and selfish things.<p>Have there been any who impose a regime of doing good things for the community?
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troydavis
Lee Kuan Yew was routinely called a dictator, but he left Singapore in far,
far better shape than he found it:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Kuan_Yew](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Kuan_Yew),
[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/23/lee-kuan-
yews-...](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/23/lee-kuan-yews-legacy-
of-authoritarian-pragmatism-will-serve-singapore-well)

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dangerface
Dictators don't have all the annoying paper work of democracies so they are a
lot faster and more focused, handy if you live in a developing nation.
Generally they are focused on getting the dictator all the things they want.
Often the dictator wastes money on nice cars sure, but they also spend money
on roads to drive them. Bad leadership is often better than none, especially
when the dictator wants things that benefit everyone like food and
electricity. We think of dictators as one person vs a nation but the many will
always win that fight, the many allow them selves to be ruled as they think
its in their interest, some times it is.

I live in the uk which is ruled by the dictator the queen of England,
technically she can overthrow parliament and in the past when parliament have
been seen as corrupt this has happened.

Is a dictator removing a corrupt parliament a good thing? or a bad sign the
dictator is corrupt?

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yesenadam
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benevolent_dictatorship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benevolent_dictatorship)

[https://www.unbelievable-facts.com/2017/11/good-
dictators.ht...](https://www.unbelievable-facts.com/2017/11/good-
dictators.html)

Google is your friend (These are from first page of 'best dictators in
history')

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aglavine
The problem with dictatorships is in the very nature of their organizational
system. It doesn't incentive self-initiative, trust, discussion or criticism,
so most of the time their team are a bunch of pusillanimous fools, the
smartest people will run away to places where they're listened and trusted.

That said, I'm sure a couple of dictators in history must have been good-doers
and built a healthy working environment. However, without clear rules and
controls, the next in line can do a lot of harm, since it is proven in history
that great power attracts and promotes predatory people.

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simpsonovich
Dictators can do a whole lot of good (for certain definitions of "good") by
ordering for things to happen. Say, like building roads and hospitals in
backwater shitholes of their land. It's good in the sense that people in the
said poor communities get access to some amenities, but can be bad in the
sense that dictators can simply order doctors, teachers and engineers relocate
to the said backwater against their wish. For concrete examples, check out the
history of Soviet Union and Cuba.

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coretx
Technically, all dictators do good if you're talking about the original
definition. Someone temporarily given absolute power during times of crisis in
order to resolve said crisis. It's the nature of ( power ) politics where it
goes wrong as in politics nearly anything temporary tends to become permanent
and institutional. This is where the good dictator turns into a benevolent or
bad one.

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Raed667
Any "good" they do, is offset by the systematic oppression they put in place
to sustain their dictatorship.

