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Comment by watwut | Hacker News Reader

It is hard to get rid of dictator once he has the power.

Edit: Just for the record, I did not downvoted you.

I don't disagree, of course. All countries started out with dictators and juntas. (We called them kings in the Western world.) There should be a second movers advantage. Most of the clan cultures are gone at least, right?

Edit: Hmm... OK watwut -- the dictators have second movers advantage too? It seems to me that the reason evil juntas get fewer is that without an open society (which is hard without democracy) a country won't get above a certain economic level. The "Resource curse" counteract that and won't end in the Middle East until oil isn't critical.

No, I don't think the clan (or tribe) cultures are gone - at least, not if you mean a culture where the clan or tribe is important.

It took violent revolutions and wars to get there. Then again, the government had to be dysfunctional a lot and weak to get to the revolution. The one with power has the advantage, there is no second mover advantage.

And do not forget that some of current dictators have and traditionally had Western support which makes opposition against them even harder.

Edit: the second mover has to wait until the dictator gets weak (for whatever reason - it may be caused by outside threat) and power vacuum opens up. Interested parties then fight for power. I would not call any of that "advantage".

additionally it has never been harder to revolt, military technology is far more advanced these days.

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