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Autocratic countries tend to have very conservative cultures. Women are second-class citizens, minorities are repressed, gays are bullied, etc. Democracies by contrast are more liberal and tolerant. Why is this? The answer I have marries Bueno de Mesquita's selectorate theory with Bob Altemeyer's concept of the authoritarian personality. What we think of as a dictatorship, Bueno de Mesquita thinks of as a "small-coalition regime". The regime is structured in such a way that the ruler's hold on power depends on the support of just a small fraction of the population. By contrast, a democracy is one where the ruler must gain the support of a broad section of the population in order to survive in power. If you are a dictator and thus need only a small fraction of the people to cling to power, which is the best fraction to appeal to? The answer is the authoritarian citizens. Authoritarians, as Altemeyer describes them, are people who believe in conformity and submission to authority. Authoritarians want society to be hierarchical, and tend to look down upon women and minorities (and really anyone who doesn't not conform to what they think of as normal). Altemeyer notes that it's pretty easy for a dictator to acquire and hold the support of authoritarians. He simply needs to claim to share their values and promise to impose them on the rest of society, and like that, the authoritarians will give him their solid support and overlook his flaws. Moreover, Altemeyer has found that authoritarians are actually drawn to domineering figures. They want to be ruled by a strongman. The above strategy does not work in a democratic society because there are not enough authoritarians in the population to form a sufficiently large support base. In most western societies, only about 10% of the population is authoritarian (in America it's about 26%). To form a sufficiently large support base to gain power, politicians are forced to appeal to centrists and liberals. And what do centrists and liberals want? More rights for women, gays, and minorities. What does everyone think of my take?
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Oct 24, 2022 20:33
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I wasn't talking about education or healthcare, I was talking about tolerance and egalitarianism. Why are democratic societies more tolerant and egalitarian?
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Oct 24, 2022 21:05
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No, it's a consequence of broad political participation. The reason that people in democracies are more educated and healthy is that the people vote for better education and healthcare, and the rulers have to satisfy these demands or else they lose re-election. The people in democracies also vote for more equality and tolerance, because in a large-coalition regime, the ruler is forced to listen to the demands of progressives, as well as build more a inclusive society to attract the votes of minorities.
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Oct 24, 2022 21:22
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