Why Autocracies Have Elections: How Strongmen Exploit Voting for Their Own Gain

On March 15, 2024, voters in Russia will go to the polls to choose who will be president. But the outcome already seems set in stone: Vladimir Putin will win another term in office. Russia's autocratic election is not unique, though. Since the Cold War's conclusion, about 69% of autocracies run elections of some kind. But why do they do it? This video explores the circumstances where they are sometimes forced to but how in other cases autocracies have found ways to exploit the electoral process for their own benefit.
0:00 Elections in Autocracies
2:24 Democratic Legacies
4:42 Diplomatic Pressure
7:16 Domestic Legitimacy
8:46 Information Gathering
11:09 Deflecting Blame
12:53 Controlling Local Officials
14:24 Making Credible Commitments
16:13 Efficiency Gains
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By Duma.ru:
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By Kremlin.ru:
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Пікірлер: 646

  • @anttibra
    @anttibra2 ай бұрын

    Russians get to vote between "Vladimir" and "Putin".

  • @justinstewart6366

    @justinstewart6366

    2 ай бұрын

    Funny but unfortunately, it's reality.

  • @u2beuser714

    @u2beuser714

    2 ай бұрын

    ​@@justinstewart6366 It wasnt in 2000s many polls showes that putin had high approval rates before he consolidated all the media for himself

  • @GeorgeSemel

    @GeorgeSemel

    2 ай бұрын

    Russia needs Boris Badenov and his henchwoman Natasha.

  • @nicholasgutierrez9940

    @nicholasgutierrez9940

    2 ай бұрын

    @@u2beuser714Usually how it goes. Person gets enough popular support and power to consolidate it all to himself. Then forms a new system to officially establish the new regime. People go RRRREEEEE when it happens though.

  • @dominuslogik484

    @dominuslogik484

    2 ай бұрын

    @@u2beuser714 that is in part due to the way in which the Russian mindset works. having interacted with enough Russians (and other eastern Europeans for that matter) so long as the bare minimum is being met by their leadership the overwhelming majority of them will support the person. basically they have had generations of leadership that has horribly abused and lied to them in the past so any sense of stability is enough for them as a culture to rally to an individual because they are skeptical of anyone promising to be better than what they have now and most have resigned themselves to thinking they couldn't do anything about it anyway.

  • @Elongated_Muskrat
    @Elongated_Muskrat2 ай бұрын

    It's a good way to manufacture consent and also helps determine which regions need the most civil suppression and secret police attention.

  • @u2beuser714

    @u2beuser714

    2 ай бұрын

    There is no such thing as "more civil suppression" peoples opinions change almost daily you never know where the next civil unrest happens

  • @MrGoodCat8

    @MrGoodCat8

    2 ай бұрын

    ​@u2beuser714 can you keep your ignorance to yourself

  • @nunyabusiness863

    @nunyabusiness863

    2 ай бұрын

    ​@@u2beuser714organized, kinetic uprisings do not spontanteously form overnight. They take time. And dissent is often shown by how many people voted for the other guy, even if he had no chance of winning. In autocratic systems, this is tracked and targeted.

  • @PH4RX

    @PH4RX

    2 ай бұрын

    Yep, and then you have the drawbacks of autocracy.

  • @u2beuser714

    @u2beuser714

    2 ай бұрын

    ​@@nunyabusiness863 In autocracies people get silenced one way or another so its absurd to suggest someone will willingly vote for another person, you are kinda admitting that autocracies have some form of free election or unbiased polls? Nonsense

  • @QuixEnd
    @QuixEnd2 ай бұрын

    Voting gives ambiguity to the sense that "Well, if we _really_ wanted him out we'd vote him out" Its incredibly easy for big systems to subtly direct populations.

  • @newnamesameperson397

    @newnamesameperson397

    2 ай бұрын

    Like here in the states

  • @benjammin9745

    @benjammin9745

    2 ай бұрын

    ​@newnamesameperson397 probably not the best example, but okay

  • @divat10

    @divat10

    2 ай бұрын

    Isn't it a pretty good example when you basically only have 2 options?

  • @createdforthemoment6740

    @createdforthemoment6740

    2 ай бұрын

    While that is an issue, to be sure, the difference is can you answer the question: who is going to win the American election? ​@@divat10

  • @vidkunpurischkewitsch9598

    @vidkunpurischkewitsch9598

    2 ай бұрын

    Russia is a Democracy and Putin is elected because he is the most popular and competent Politician.

  • @Jonnyboy1738
    @Jonnyboy17382 ай бұрын

    Steven Seagal jump scare at 2:54

  • @MijinLaw

    @MijinLaw

    2 ай бұрын

    His musical talent can't be denied though: kzread.info/dash/bejne/Zapoj9ySl8vVlMY.html

  • @mikelee2213

    @mikelee2213

    2 ай бұрын

    Steven Seagal said Putin is "one of the great living world leaders". That's all I need to know about him. Pathetic.

  • @kratozaku

    @kratozaku

    2 ай бұрын

    Came here to post this.

  • @eriks.9730

    @eriks.9730

    2 ай бұрын

    Where’s Gerard Depardieu? 😊

  • @evananderson1455

    @evananderson1455

    2 ай бұрын

    ​@@MijinLawPart of me feels like I should probably call the police and press charges for you exposing me to that. Holy hell, that is awful. Like really really REALLY bad.

  • @Simalacrum
    @Simalacrum2 ай бұрын

    I heard somewhere that North Korea's mandatory 'elections' act almost like an impromptu census - since everyone has to vote, you can tell who is based where, and note absences for individuals who for example may have attempted defection.

  • @vidkunpurischkewitsch9598

    @vidkunpurischkewitsch9598

    2 ай бұрын

    Russia is more democratic than the US infact and Putin is only portraited as an Autocrat because he does not want accept the global hegemony of US just like Milosevic (who was later killed). The US itself is only an Oligarchy and Ukraine which is a Client State of US is an extremely corrupt Gangster state.

  • @damislav

    @damislav

    2 ай бұрын

    @@vidkunpurischkewitsch9598 milosevic was not killed. He was war criminal who invaded 4 countries.

  • @vidkunpurischkewitsch9598

    @vidkunpurischkewitsch9598

    2 ай бұрын

    @@damislav Milosevic was killed because he was not guilty and he fought only for protection of Serbian minorities from repression in Bosnia and Croatia and in Kosovo which was not independent country at that time but a Serbian province that was ruled partly by A Terrorist Group named UCK.

  • @damislav

    @damislav

    2 ай бұрын

    @@vidkunpurischkewitsch9598 Was that your russian source that said that. Cause when Croatia declared independance ,that she legally had rights. Serbs minority started blocking roads . Milosevic goal was Greater Serbia. So if anything every other country in Yugoslavia was repressed. They commited many massacres like in Vukovar and Srebrenica. Not to mention siege of Sarajevo that lasted 4 years. Buddy you are defending genocidal terrorist state. But that's not surprising for someone that thinks Putin is good guy. I guess cheaper oil for your Indian people is worth it.

  • @vidkunpurischkewitsch9598

    @vidkunpurischkewitsch9598

    2 ай бұрын

    @@damislav Im not an Indian. Milosevic was not a worse leader than Tudjman or Izetbegovic and he was infact a Socialist who used Nationalism primary for mobilization and those was a civic and moderate variant of it. Tudjman called Serbs of Krajina a cancer that is about to destroy the identity of Croatian nation and coquetted with Ustasha. Izerbegovic was an Islamist who was the Proponent of a wordwide Islamic state. The UCK was an irredentist and folkish Nationalist Terror group whose leaders are descendants of Albanian Nazi-Collaborators and bosses of the Albanian Mafia. Kosovo is a Mafia state and is economical and political not well-functioning. The massacres that you mentioned either did not take place or were only misrepresented actions of marauding units or a group of individual soldiers. Seselj and Karadzic were Ultra-Nationalists while Milosevic and Mladic were moderate and wanted a Dialogue with Croats, Bosniaks and Kosovo-Albanians. The international court in Den Haag sentenced only Serbian war criminals but not Croatian, Bosniak or Kosovo-Albanian ones. It is controlled by Intelligence Services of the NATO and is not even recognized by the US itself.

  • @JinKee
    @JinKee2 ай бұрын

    Imagine being so inoffensive that you get picked to be an alternative candidate to Vladimir Putin.

  • @General12th
    @General12th2 ай бұрын

    Hi Dr. Spaniel! The title of your next book should be _So You Just Inherited an Autocratic Government: What's Next?"_

  • @JohnGeorgeBauerBuis

    @JohnGeorgeBauerBuis

    2 ай бұрын

    That is *brilliant*.

  • @pieterfaes6263

    @pieterfaes6263

    2 ай бұрын

    Isn't that a more detailed and practical application version of 'The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics'? I mean that book could use one of those; it is rather general so it doesn't quite elaborate on tips and tricks like these.

  • @downix
    @downix2 ай бұрын

    I would not call Yeltsin a "more democratic past" in any book. He literally slaughtered the elected legislature in order to implement a Constitution which granted him near absolute power; the very power Putin now enjoys.

  • @downix

    @downix

    2 ай бұрын

    Additionally, China has multiple parties. You do not need to be a member of the CPC to run for office.

  • @mqmareq6248
    @mqmareq62482 ай бұрын

    Spaniels in White House! Can't stop laughing, you really got me off guard with that one 🤣🤣🤣🤣

  • @embreis2257

    @embreis2257

    2 ай бұрын

    4:14 ah, the glory days.

  • @MistaBreed

    @MistaBreed

    2 ай бұрын

    @@embreis2257 3:43 is Putin demonstrating in he middle of the crowd...

  • @emperorclaudius5499
    @emperorclaudius54992 ай бұрын

    "A parliament is originally founded to represent the people, but this in itself is undemocratic as democracy means the authority of the people and not an authority acting on their behalf" - Gaddafi

  • @XIIchiron78

    @XIIchiron78

    Ай бұрын

    The people, ideally, delegate their power to an assembly who can specialize in the practice of lawmaking, judiciary, and execution. It's no different than hiring an accountant to manage your finances or visiting a restaurant to have a chef cook you a meal. Having every citizen be completely educated on the minutiae of every facet of government is a colossal waste, and also completely impossible. So the delegates are expected to represent the interests of the people and communicate the relevant specifics of various issues. The problem is that the mechanism of control we have is broken which denies us any accountability and leaves us to choose only between lesser and greater evils. The problem is vote splitting and the entrenched duopoly it creates, not democracy. It is fixable with better voting methods.

  • @kieranelliott5607
    @kieranelliott56072 ай бұрын

    I've always been fascinated by the mechanics and process of autocratic elections. From holding thumb on the scale at one end to just flat out making it up at the other, and to what extent they feel they need to disguise the sham. Selecting the winning % is clearly a choice many struggle with.

  • @sunalwaysshinesonTVs
    @sunalwaysshinesonTVs2 ай бұрын

    "When an elected leader loses office within a well established democracy, they tend to just go home..." until recently. Democracy is dunzo.

  • @baneofbanes

    @baneofbanes

    2 ай бұрын

    It’s not “dunzo”

  • @jaggerpirtle3766

    @jaggerpirtle3766

    2 ай бұрын

    Trump literally went home to florida and started to face charges. It’s not dunzo lmao

  • @sunalwaysshinesonTVs

    @sunalwaysshinesonTVs

    2 ай бұрын

    @@jaggerpirtle3766 ...after inciting a insurrection.

  • @angies.7689
    @angies.76892 ай бұрын

    Corruption in an autocratic state is inherent and absolute and, to paraphrase Navalny in his final statement, corruption unchecked will destroy a state and in Russia under Putin this is inevitable.

  • @kevinfrancaissfkk8072
    @kevinfrancaissfkk80722 ай бұрын

    "a nice 69%" Nice.

  • @stuff8195

    @stuff8195

    2 ай бұрын

    I think more like 94 to 96

  • @Yuuzu

    @Yuuzu

    2 ай бұрын

    Nice.

  • @benjammin9745

    @benjammin9745

    2 ай бұрын

    Good number. Better than many others

  • @cjaydustie1867

    @cjaydustie1867

    2 ай бұрын

    Nice.

  • @varun009

    @varun009

    2 ай бұрын

    Nice

  • @davidniemi6553
    @davidniemi65532 ай бұрын

    Thanks for the insightful video on how small amounts of "democracy" can benefit autocrats in a controlled manner. And love the Bush Sr. era Spaniels reference!

  • @ImreBertalan86
    @ImreBertalan862 ай бұрын

    I am just surprised, you did not mention the Hungarian examples how changing the election system in your own favor can cement ones power. Also, because Viktor Orbán himself said, he want's an illiberal democracy in Hungary.

  • @adstalga

    @adstalga

    2 ай бұрын

    And Hungary's elections are still technically free. But Orban and associates influence the outcome by gerrymandering and shaping the media narrative, to the point where the outcome is a foregone conclusion.

  • @krisfrederick5001
    @krisfrederick50012 ай бұрын

    “The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. Hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. This new version is the past and no different past can ever have existed. In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or East Asia, but to keep the very structure of society intact.” ― George Orwell

  • @drunkenslav2334

    @drunkenslav2334

    2 ай бұрын

    Reminds me of the war on terror and the cold War, there always has to be an enemy to rally against

  • @jakebrooks3415

    @jakebrooks3415

    2 ай бұрын

    Sounds like the conservative culture war

  • @normaaliihminen722

    @normaaliihminen722

    2 ай бұрын

    @@jakebrooks3415you are so correct. Culture war is synonymous to cultural evolution in which strongest culture is calling the shots / dominate. It doesn’t matter who is morally right or wrong it’s about who is left to rule. This applies not just political ideologies but also to religions (as both are self-replicating information units) as well which is why Islam will likely going to dominate the Europe in near future because it is highly intolerant, aggressive in its spread and demands unquestionable and unhinged subscriptions to Islamic beliefs.

  • @drunkenslav2334

    @drunkenslav2334

    2 ай бұрын

    @@normaaliihminen722 this is not correct, Islam will not dominate europe because its inherently not build for the material conditions it finds itself in, you will find islam be dilluted into more moderate beliefs and eventually turn into muslim-coded theism and atheism. what will dominate europe will be anti-liberal ideologies like fascism, communism and similar beliefs. the current liberal status quo simply cannot survive forever, it is economically unfeasible.

  • @FredTheRed27

    @FredTheRed27

    2 ай бұрын

    @@normaaliihminen722I think you’ve been duped the very culture war they were talking about regarding Islam… using Islam as an enemy is one of the major tactics conservatives have used as of late, Islamic regimes tend to be rather extreme at the moment but at the end of the day Christianity can be equally as rabid and repressive- just look at the American alt right! There’s nothing inherent about Islam that makes it uniquely regressive, it’s just that in the places it’s practiced the repressive groups won control.

  • @AlexVictorianus
    @AlexVictorianus2 ай бұрын

    In case of a coup attempt, citizens would gather behind the autocrat, who is legitimized by pseudo elections. This was the case with Erdogan in 2015. It’s a big advantage, autocrats receive from pseudo elections.

  • @nebojsag.5871
    @nebojsag.58712 ай бұрын

    The idea that Russia was a fundamentally fine if flawed as a democracy while Yeltsin slaughtered his political enemies with tanks is a fucking joke😂

  • @Ravi9A

    @Ravi9A

    2 ай бұрын

    It's typical western zealotry

  • @fillosof66689

    @fillosof66689

    2 ай бұрын

    The political opponents in question were themselves not above using armed violence to achieve their goals, and indeed they fired the first shot. Yeltsin just had more pull and so came out on top.

  • @nebojsag.5871

    @nebojsag.5871

    2 ай бұрын

    @@fillosof66689 Yeltsin committed economic genocide against his own people and then rigged the election of '96 in his favor. How the fuck was he not the unambiguous bad guy in this situation? Or are you one of those subhuman vermin who unironically supported Yeltsin?

  • @user-ou9qd9no5n

    @user-ou9qd9no5n

    2 ай бұрын

    Yeah, Russia never been democratical

  • @Krom5072
    @Krom50722 ай бұрын

    As a Russian, who also happens to be a political scientist: a lot of people think that elections are politically meaningless if the incumbent does not change. This is generally not true, I can give a counterexample - in Singapore, one party dominated the elections since independence - and these elections are in no way competitive or fair - but they are really useful politically as a sort of feedback mechanism (a drop from 70% to 50% votes for the ruling party would in fact trigger some policy changes to correct for that). In Russia specifically, the President's administration obviously controls all the major policy outcomes, things that foreigners normally care about and notice - foreign policy, domination of certain elite factions, the level of political freedoms and stuff. But in many places the administration doesn't control or care to control the policy. A recent example would be how in late 2023 there was a huge conservative motion to restrict abortions - pioneered by the Russian Orthodox Church - and it seemed so drastic as if Russian abortion legislation (which is still among the most liberal globally) would now suddenly make a big 180. However then Putin intervened and said that restricting abortions is kind of stupid. Then regional parliaments quickly dropped the bills that they had about that (the major policy idea was to ban abortions from private clinics - very few regions now actually carried this proposal through). This example hints that Putin did not really care about this policy issue to control it, and in all likelihood, in was the ROC and the medicine ministry acting on their own. Hence, in some policy areas, one could envision achieving some outcomes through 'normal' political procedures (i.e. voting in politicians who suit your interests) when these outcomes do not refer to areas critical for the administration. In 2019-2020, a new political party (which is called literally the New People) formed in Russia and quickly got voted in the State Duma in 2021. Obviously they are a project of the Kremlin and they do not challenge the status quo, but they can make changes even though they are 5% of the parliament; as it is a liberal-leaning party, it harbors many liberal economists, who often and very productively discuss certain issues with respective ministries or the Central Bank and stuff. Thus they contributed to Russian economy not dying due to sanctions. (I guess it's not a cause of celebrations for you Westerners but for a Russian citizen it is a desirable outcome.) There is a rationale for voting in these presidential elections even though you know for a fact that Putin can't be voted out. To be specific, the LDPR party (the 'liberal democratic' party which is actually famously a nationalist party) has really been on decline when its ancient leader, Zhirinovsky, died in 2022. The slogan most used by present LDPR candidate is literally 'Zhirinovsky's cause is alive', they can't invent a meaningful agenda now and have no place in a political landscape. A meaningful political goal for these elections is to put this LDPR dude in the last place, in an attempt to undermine the party so that it drops out of State Duma next cycle and we will have New People on the right, United Russia in the center, and KPRF and Just Russia (socialist parties) on the left. Why does it matter? Again, since United Russia is subservient to the president but is not, like, an extension of the administration, undermining United Russia and using State Duma to argue for policies is a meaningful goal. That is why I have been urging all my acquaintances to vote for the New People candidate (he's not a good guy but he represents the most interesting party + he is the only registered candidate with an anti-war position). The fatalist understanding of Russian politics - that it all-or-nothing, you either vote Putin and live in authoritarianism, or resist the administration in any way possible - is really only present in Russia among the opposition-leaning pro-Western electorate - which is NOT in any way a politically powerful group (I estimate it's 15% of the population at most, and a lot of these left Russia during mobilization). The rest have kind of learned to live within Putin's regime and adapt. Although I would agree that Putin has been very successful in depoliticizing the broader population such that a lot of people don't know or care to engage with politics.

  • @MG.Fishing

    @MG.Fishing

    2 ай бұрын

    So, what's your opinion on what the opposition could possibly do even if they stopped yelling at each other and consolidated around voting for Davankov as Katz proposes(and being hated for). Let's imagine a situation when everyone who's against Putin suddenly agrees with Katz and votes for Davankov. This will obviously not happen but still even if 40% of the voters chose him would it really change anything? We've all seen what happened in Belarus in 2020 and Belarus wasn't even remotely close to a fascist like state as Russia is these days. We all know who has already won this "election". No matter what we do inside Russia changes the situation or even scares Putin at this point. Looks like the terror has won, the repressions are somewhat successful and almost everyone who could afford it has left the country at this point. I mean as a Russian who is currently still in Russia I'm coming to honor Alexey's memory on 17th 12:00 just to look around and see if there are still people other than myself who despise what's going on with our country but frankly I don't expect anything positive or even neutral at this point because it seems like it's only going to get exponentially worse. I still haven't decided if I vote/vandalize the ballot paper or just stand there looking around but that's likely because I don't feel/believe that any sort of action can give any result at this point. What's your opinion regarding this issue?

  • @badluck5647

    @badluck5647

    2 ай бұрын

    A Russian political scientist just sounds depressing.

  • @Ravi9A

    @Ravi9A

    2 ай бұрын

    ​@@badluck5647on the contrary it sounds honest as fuck

  • @badluck5647

    @badluck5647

    2 ай бұрын

    @@Ravi9A Eliminating the opposition to retain a kleptocracy and arresting anyone who reports the truth while pretending to be a democracy is the most cynical political system on Earth.

  • @Ravi9A

    @Ravi9A

    2 ай бұрын

    @@badluck5647 cynicism is just a label given to honesty one dislikes

  • @m4yd1e86
    @m4yd1e862 ай бұрын

    If I had professors like this, I'd have an MBA, but I didn't. So I'm a heavy equipment operator. Thanks for another interesting video!

  • @J.C...
    @J.C...2 ай бұрын

    2:55 IS THAT STEVEN SEAGAL!?!

  • @GojiMet86

    @GojiMet86

    2 ай бұрын

    The man is an absolute Russian stooge!

  • @LynnWillis426

    @LynnWillis426

    2 ай бұрын

    Good catch!

  • @Riya-ho5zv

    @Riya-ho5zv

    2 ай бұрын

    yeah it's kinda weird, he has Serbian and Russian citizenship apparently

  • @TheResilient5689

    @TheResilient5689

    2 ай бұрын

    He can totally stay there too.

  • @pandibbarman
    @pandibbarman2 ай бұрын

    Option 1 : putin Option 2 : Vladimir putin ☠️

  • @MainlineThruTheRockies
    @MainlineThruTheRockies2 ай бұрын

    In Russia, you have two options on your ballot: Putin Prison

  • @teeteetuu94

    @teeteetuu94

    2 ай бұрын

    - Putin - Put in (prison)

  • @bulletflight

    @bulletflight

    2 ай бұрын

    Novichok is the secret third choice if you spoil your ballot.

  • @andrewwalker1131
    @andrewwalker1131Ай бұрын

    You explain topics very well. You speak clearly. Thank you.

  • @jamieson2630
    @jamieson26302 ай бұрын

    Hell Divers 2 type Democracy.

  • @glenn3646

    @glenn3646

    2 ай бұрын

    😂😂 indeed Russia is infested with Poopin bugs

  • @ratingexplicit7441

    @ratingexplicit7441

    2 ай бұрын

    Treasonous speech detected. Democracy officers will escort you to the nearest freedom camp. Please remain where you are.

  • @Khal_Rheg0
    @Khal_Rheg02 ай бұрын

    Thank you!

  • @jcdisci
    @jcdisci2 ай бұрын

    Always eagerly anticipate your videos.

  • @Justme42yay
    @Justme42yay2 ай бұрын

    Yay early for a change I appreciate your videos sir

  • @flyingturtle22
    @flyingturtle222 ай бұрын

    at 7:20, "the cold war was a battle of ideologies, democracy vs communism." Thats simply not true. El salvador, honduras, nicaragua, cuba, chile, congo, vietnam, etc etc would beg to differ. it was at best capitalism vs communism worse anti-communism at all costs, by all accounts in the countries stated before the most popular leader was more of a leftist/communist and thus shunned by the US or replaced by an authoritarian figure who would remain loyal to american interest.

  • @Ravi9A

    @Ravi9A

    2 ай бұрын

    In a video full of delusion that moment was particularly special.

  • @internet_introvert
    @internet_introvert2 ай бұрын

    I hate when people frame things in terms of "democracy vs communism" Such a Blue And Orange argument. Theoretically you can have a democratic communist state. Economy and means of government are two different things.

  • @baneofbanes

    @baneofbanes

    2 ай бұрын

    Maybe yet every time the communists seem RoC one to power it’s the Marxist-Leninists or some variation at the helm.

  • @Antonnick
    @Antonnick2 ай бұрын

    Only difference to the US American elections is that there you get a choice between two. Not really democratic either as the one candidate who spends the most money is usually the one that wins. At the end of the day, just as contrived as the autocracies mentioned in the video.

  • @constantinethecataphract5949

    @constantinethecataphract5949

    2 ай бұрын

    The western world is run by cosmopolitan oligarchs. The opposition is run by nationalist or at least more local autocrats. Democracy is and especially 1 citizen 1 vote style universal suffrage style Democracy was, is and always will be a pipe dream. The iron law of oligarchy is absolute in any society and system.

  • @JurzGarz

    @JurzGarz

    Ай бұрын

    Not at all. In the American system, flawed as it is, people actually have a legitimate choice between alternatives and those in power are frequently removed after losing elections. Governments aren’t elementary school math equations, you can’t just say “two is only slightly more than one, so having two candidates is only slightly more democratic than having one candidate”. Especially because Americans typically have way more than two candidates, but use primaries to resolve intraparty politics.

  • @johnwdferguson3149
    @johnwdferguson31492 ай бұрын

    Ha. Excellent analysis.

  • @AlexxGamboa
    @AlexxGamboa2 ай бұрын

    Press x to doubt, Lmao love it

  • @iambicpentakill971
    @iambicpentakill9712 ай бұрын

    In a democracy they lose and go home most of the time. Sometimes they try to commit insurrections

  • @PeanutsDadForever
    @PeanutsDadForever2 ай бұрын

    Another Amazing Video! Thank you. 🇦🇺👴🏻

  • @Kody-xy3jj
    @Kody-xy3jj2 ай бұрын

    Brilliant analysis. Thank you !

  • @ilyapopov2818
    @ilyapopov28182 ай бұрын

    A guy talks about protests and shows a picture of "Immortal Regiment". (A march, that takes place every May 9 in memory of people, who fought in WWII)

  • @johnsullivan6843
    @johnsullivan68432 ай бұрын

    4:17 aaahhh yes, I see what you did there! 😂😂

  • @lakewobegonesbest8725
    @lakewobegonesbest872527 күн бұрын

    I work in retail ops mgmt. It’s ironic how similar it operates to an autocracy. Company media shows CEOs meeting workers. Pics/quotes of the 1st dear-CEO are all over the walls. He was “revolutionary.” The CEOs since him were all buggy pushers at one point. Working class who worked their way up (ivy league edu and Mandarin fluency are coincidental). Must praise the dear CEO and model his leadership, never complain. “Listen” to your workers but report if 2+ workers complain together. Problems are never policy or staffing budgets. Just work harder to meet quotas and blame the ppl below you. Wage increase = benefits decrease. Be glad that the company is adopting new tech to cut costs when AI is used to downsize. It’s the dear CEO’s will to protect shareholder happiness. This is the backbone of our liberal democracy.

  • @paulsweeney9084
    @paulsweeney90842 ай бұрын

    During his heyday, Trujillo in the Dominican Republic "won" an election by 110%. Whoops.

  • @bomoose

    @bomoose

    2 ай бұрын

    he added all who voted for him plus 99%

  • @politelyupset
    @politelyupsetАй бұрын

    A lot of people in other countries didn't have a chance to vote in embassies because there were too many people wanting to vote. E.g. in Belgrade the last people who managed to vote came at 11:30 AM, and embassy closed it's doors at 8 PM.

  • @Algizia
    @Algizia2 ай бұрын

    Democracy shouldn't be confused with ekections. Democracy is the rule by and for the people. Or at least, a large part of the population. Elections even with universal suffrage doesn't inherently imply the existence of a democracy because power may be distributed in a way that makes the elections not have any impact on who holds power within a society.

  • @lukaswilhelm9290
    @lukaswilhelm92902 ай бұрын

    You should also look at Indonesian democracy, it used to be iliberal during Sukarno and Suharto's rule. Funny thing is even after reformation in 1998 things still don't change that much, sure they can have multi party elections but nepotism and corruption still rign supreme as recent Indonesian presidential election got Jokowi's son to be future vice president.

  • @marcussassan
    @marcussassan2 ай бұрын

    thanks for this video

  • @Ragatokk
    @Ragatokk2 ай бұрын

    Autocrats need to avoid rebellion sure, but they can give way better living conditions than just the minimum as well. And they can fail and get the rebellion they wish to avoid.

  • @baneofbanes

    @baneofbanes

    2 ай бұрын

    But that doesn’t make them and their friends rich.

  • @Ragatokk

    @Ragatokk

    2 ай бұрын

    A more secure grip on power is also good for them.@@baneofbanes

  • @constantinethecataphract5949

    @constantinethecataphract5949

    2 ай бұрын

    ​@@baneofbanes Why does making the people's standard of living better and the rulling class well being have to be in opposition? Most countries and civilizations in history were "autocratic" yet often the relation between the 2 ideas weren't in opposition. The German empire was more autocratic yet still had a good standard of living for the time. Its the framework that we examine societies that give us our biases of what a good system looks like.

  • @Adsper2000

    @Adsper2000

    2 ай бұрын

    @@RagatokkStatistically, the thing that is most likely to cause an autocratic country to flip and become a democratic country is higher GDP per capita and higher economic growth. That process doesn’t necessarily need to be too violent, but leaders with a deathgrip on power have no way out but the grave.

  • @natethenoble909
    @natethenoble9092 ай бұрын

    Beware the Ides of March....

  • @shekelboi
    @shekelboi2 ай бұрын

    4:17 that pun lol

  • @therealspeedwagon1451
    @therealspeedwagon14512 ай бұрын

    Voting for autocracies gives a form of legitimacy that isn’t simply military might. I think it is also a major tool of propaganda. They tend to have elections so that their shills and propagandists can say “Look! North Korea has elections, therefore it has to be the most free and democratic society on the planet!” When in reality these elections are often rigged and the seats of power are predetermined. North Korea is technically a multiparty democracy, but all the parties are small and range from social democrats to nationalist communists. With the Korean Worker’s Party having the most seats and being the ruling party of North Korea since its founding by Kim Il Sung.

  • @runajain5773

    @runajain5773

    2 ай бұрын

    Yeh still the joke if you form opposititon party to Korean worker party next day they will gone existence

  • @lupusdeum3894
    @lupusdeum38942 ай бұрын

    More of an affirmation than a vote. 😊

  • @UA10i12
    @UA10i122 ай бұрын

    Benjamin Franklin, still influences so much of the world hondreds of years after his death.

  • @asavelakuse6865

    @asavelakuse6865

    2 ай бұрын

    Yep until someone fucks it up

  • @michaelrocha7159
    @michaelrocha71592 ай бұрын

    Always look forward to watching your videos with my morning coffee and paperwork crunch

  • @daigakunobaku273
    @daigakunobaku2732 ай бұрын

    》Protests 》Shows Бессмертный полк Was it so hard to find photos of the actual protests?

  • @danielvelazquez776
    @danielvelazquez7762 ай бұрын

    Yeeii México mentioned 🎉

  • @Gametheory101

    @Gametheory101

    2 ай бұрын

    Hola hola

  • @lacasadelvideojuego3880

    @lacasadelvideojuego3880

    2 ай бұрын

    Para que, tener muchos partidos tampoco sirve cuando TODOS son la misma cosa…

  • @danielvelazquez776

    @danielvelazquez776

    2 ай бұрын

    @@lacasadelvideojuego3880 siento que servía para tener las cámaras más divididas y obligarlos a negociar con más facciones de distintos intereses, pero al final igual que en muchos países todo tiende a volverse dos bloques y remoras satélites. Life is pain 🙃

  • @lacasadelvideojuego3880

    @lacasadelvideojuego3880

    2 ай бұрын

    @@danielvelazquez776 Si en si Mexico solo son dos bloques con todas las coalisiones lo peor es que partidos que se odiaron hace un sexenio ahora trabajan juntos, pero siento que la politica mexicana esta aun peor que eso. Simplemente todos prometen arreglar el pais y ninguno ha hecho un cambio significativo en la sociedad que uno diga "ya avanzamos" encima de que se señalan mutuamente como los culpables.

  • @scorpiovenator_4736
    @scorpiovenator_47362 ай бұрын

    Gotta love russian autocracy, time to add that "democratic" title like north korea and the diplomatic republic of the congo. Democratic russen federation

  • @mattipiirainen7440
    @mattipiirainen74402 ай бұрын

    Is there no lines on a map?

  • @ra42mario
    @ra42mario2 ай бұрын

    Sounds like the 2020 presidential election

  • @baneofbanes

    @baneofbanes

    2 ай бұрын

    Not really.

  • @MikeBilous
    @MikeBilous2 ай бұрын

    Managed democracy at its finest

  • @DUCKVILLELOL
    @DUCKVILLELOL2 ай бұрын

    Some elements of the last few chapters remind me of The Dictators Handbook - those 'keys to power'

  • @jakegarvin7634
    @jakegarvin76342 ай бұрын

    All this time I thought he was a C.I.A. agent but it turns out he's a mid-size show breed

  • @heinekelland9223
    @heinekelland92232 ай бұрын

    Could you make a new video on China's role in the war? I have seen some videos on chinese manufactured equipment supplying the russians which contradicts your claim that china was not going to help russia. Do you think its to further tie up the west's resources in ukraine by helping russia fight longer, as to be able to attack taiwan with less response from the west? Also what about north Korea new saber rattling, could that be another diversion?

  • @agharuokansirim4935
    @agharuokansirim49352 ай бұрын

    You should do a video in reverse for so called democracies

  • @AdeptAnalytic
    @AdeptAnalytic2 ай бұрын

    Thanks William

  • @Random1208
    @Random12082 ай бұрын

    Your video really should have followed up on that last comment about a ruler possibly preferring a dirt-poor country over which their rule is stable,

  • @Steve_Hayden
    @Steve_Hayden2 ай бұрын

    2:59 is that Steven Seagal ? On the left side at 2:55 - 3:01

  • @user-rz9bi5cz1j
    @user-rz9bi5cz1j2 ай бұрын

    Enjoy your explanations. Would very much like hear your thoughts about the happenings in Warsaw vs Gaza World reaction in one case was abhorrence and the other a yawn.

  • @khathecleric
    @khathecleric2 ай бұрын

    Managed democracy

  • @darkestcloister
    @darkestcloister2 ай бұрын

    do protests effect change? or what is the most effective way to cause political change?

  • @tilhon
    @tilhon2 ай бұрын

    You often say that enough economic mismanagement, repression and war can lead to regime threatening protests. This has happened on multiple times in Iran but Iran is in the end of the day chugging along. How would you explain that?

  • @JurzGarz

    @JurzGarz

    Ай бұрын

    Iran has faced regime threatening protests, it’s just that they’ve never managed to actually topple the regime. Most protest movements in autocracies wind up getting crushed; successful revolutions are the exception, not the rule.

  • @George_M_
    @George_M_2 ай бұрын

    Ah yes, Managed Democracy.

  • @darkgalaxy5548
    @darkgalaxy55482 ай бұрын

    Why do they even bother?

  • @morpheus24
    @morpheus242 ай бұрын

    I just thought of something - if you have a problem with the manager in a managed democracy, who do you talk to? 1:27

  • @tonenuff
    @tonenuff2 ай бұрын

    3:09 is that Steven Seagal???

  • @slepeckymamut9960
    @slepeckymamut99602 ай бұрын

    306 / 5,000 I grew up in communist Czechoslovakia, where the "elections" consistently ended with a win of 99.98% for the Communist Party (more precisely for the election candidate of the National Front, but that meant the same thing). Why and how did it happen that elections in autocracies no longer lead to a result of 99.98%? That is, with the exception of the mentioned Saddam.

  • @thunderbug8640

    @thunderbug8640

    2 ай бұрын

    If you’re gonna hold show elections to feign democratic legitimacy, going as high as 99.98% is going to look sus to basically everyone giving it a sideways glance, especially in the age of the internet. Something in the range of 75-85 looks much more realistic, most true democratic landslide wins are at most in the 60-70% range.

  • @baneofbanes

    @baneofbanes

    2 ай бұрын

    Because that automatically shows that it’s fake.

  • @seneca983
    @seneca9832 ай бұрын

    7:25 I think this is a little bit misleading. The Soviet Union did also claim to be a democracy and held elections, though those elections only had one candidate on the ballot for the voters to choose from. Ideologically, the Communist party's claimed legitimacy came from that it purported to represent the people, or at least the proletariat.

  • @XIIchiron78
    @XIIchiron78Ай бұрын

    8:45 political factionalization is mostly driven by the voting method itself, often specifically by a mechanism called "center squeeze". There are other voting methods, that don't have this problem, so I call them "consensus building". It is a shame our broken system gives cover for autocrats to demean the entire concept of democracy in this way. E: To elaborate, there is some degree of exclusivity between consensus (utilitarian) focus and majoritarian focus, so the most actively consensus building methods tend to be cardinal ones like Score, STAR, and Approval, but some condorcet methods like Ranked Pairs and Smith-Minimax also have some effect beyond just solving center squeeze (which is to say, they perform better than other condorcet methods in terms of Bayesian regret). There are also proportionally representative options like allocated score but these are far less studied and understood. I mention this to note that many proportional methods also drive factionalism by carving out a winner for specific niches without actually representing the population as a whole. The legislative and geographic structure also matters etc... democracy is really hard, actually. Like, mathematically.

  • @JWMCMLXXX
    @JWMCMLXXX2 ай бұрын

    Thank you very much for this point of view. This helped me understand the system here in Thailand. Bit of a relief to see some good in bad elections.

  • @kanweiwu7339
    @kanweiwu73392 ай бұрын

    Trump envies so much on Putin’s position in Russia.

  • @badluck5647

    @badluck5647

    2 ай бұрын

    Trump - Putin 2024 🇷🇺🇨🇳 Make Autocrats Great Again MAGA

  • @paulmiller591
    @paulmiller5912 ай бұрын

    It's so sad. Thanks to its significant mineral wealth, highly educated population, and proximity to multiple vital global markets, Russia should be a very wealthy country. I hope the Russian people will one day push for better people to run their country and that those who have influence think more about that future than short-term gains.

  • @danielplayspiano
    @danielplayspiano2 ай бұрын

    so real :(

  • @XIIchiron78
    @XIIchiron78Ай бұрын

    Worth noting even in "real" democracies we often don't have competitive elections due to things like vote splitting. Actually, how bout a video on that? It's like entirely game theory and also explains basically every political problem we have...

  • @roberttwardowski9711
    @roberttwardowski97112 ай бұрын

    Correct Cockerr Spaniel..

  • @kentkagle7852
    @kentkagle78522 ай бұрын

    Youre fkn awesome..just saying

  • @MrSneakyGunz
    @MrSneakyGunz2 ай бұрын

    Hilarious 😂 @WilliamSpaniel is a Witch! 🧙‍♂️

  • @arithmetikmilitantpoetry9548
    @arithmetikmilitantpoetry95482 ай бұрын

    Poor Putin had to leave his bunker and shake those grubby mits for the cameras... Ewww you can tell how uncomfortable he is after casting his ballot. The whole affair comes across like an ad for hand sanitizer. Good point about Govmn. Having to the official numbers, despite what they publish.

  • @Pensasneuvostoliittolainen
    @Pensasneuvostoliittolainen2 ай бұрын

    7:21 by no theory was the cold war a battle between a form of governance and an economic system lol.

  • @suspicionofdeceit

    @suspicionofdeceit

    2 ай бұрын

    What would be a better one sentence description?

  • @damislav

    @damislav

    2 ай бұрын

    Yes it was.

  • @Pensasneuvostoliittolainen

    @Pensasneuvostoliittolainen

    2 ай бұрын

    @@suspicionofdeceit "The cold war was a battle between two fundamentally different systems; one a communist dictatorship, another a capitalist democracy:" You could also juxtapose the two different forms of government or economy with each other and it'd be fine. My issue with the original wording is that an equally valid argument would be "The cold war was a battle between capitalism and dictatorship" even though they clearly don't rule each other out. e.g. Singapore probably having higher life expectancy than the home country of anyone reading this.

  • @annbjorn
    @annbjorn2 ай бұрын

    Whats the odds? Any bets..

  • @akumaking1
    @akumaking12 ай бұрын

    What happened to meritocracy in politics?

  • @asavelakuse6865

    @asavelakuse6865

    2 ай бұрын

    China has it at least due to Confucius

  • @KoopstaKlicca

    @KoopstaKlicca

    2 ай бұрын

    Meritocracy has never been in politics lol

  • @georgemartin1383
    @georgemartin13832 ай бұрын

    That is how I feel about US elections. Both parties are on the same team.

  • @angelikaskoroszyn8495

    @angelikaskoroszyn8495

    2 ай бұрын

    In certain aeras they're definitely on the same team. In others they're years apart. A can give a small example of protecting of freedom of (and from) religion. Obama admin provided protection for the people who get help from state funded religious organisations. If you're homeless and there's a homeless shelter in your city you wouldn't be forced to participate in religious activities. Additionally this religious organisation would be obligated to inform you about your rights Sounds reasonable, doesn't it? Well, according to Trump admin it wasn't. State funded organisations should be allowed to forcefully brainwash the most vulnerable Then Biden came and his admin brought those protections back It might sound like a nothing burger but it's one of many examples of Trump admin trying to build a christofascist regime on all levels while Biden admin is, more or less, able to slow it down if not reverse Remember - they always target the most vulnerable first. Those who can't say no. The homeless, the prisoners, the children...

  • @jimmythe-gent
    @jimmythe-gent2 ай бұрын

    Good thing we don’t try & remove our political opponents from the ballots here in the US…

  • @view1st

    @view1st

    2 ай бұрын

    Or engage in gerrymandering.

  • @jimmythe-gent

    @jimmythe-gent

    2 ай бұрын

    @@view1st 💯

  • @josiahsmith7059

    @josiahsmith7059

    2 ай бұрын

    or send false electors to steal an election

  • @runajain5773

    @runajain5773

    2 ай бұрын

    You only have one opponent and central control party

  • @user-ip9fq4co9d
    @user-ip9fq4co9d2 ай бұрын

    Bangai that lago kah 😗

  • @c4llv07e
    @c4llv07e2 ай бұрын

    >>3:30 База

  • @oleopathic
    @oleopathic2 ай бұрын

    No book plug ?

  • @ragethomas
    @ragethomas2 ай бұрын

    Nice

  • @MunsterNox
    @MunsterNox2 ай бұрын

    March 15th... you mean "the ides of March"?

  • @oleopathic
    @oleopathic2 ай бұрын

    Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my greatest friend is truth.

  • @LuisRomeroLopez
    @LuisRomeroLopez2 ай бұрын

    8:08 *X.*

  • @shawnwalmer
    @shawnwalmer2 ай бұрын

    Did you put Steven Seagal in the picture at 2:57, or was he already there?

  • @Gametheory101

    @Gametheory101

    2 ай бұрын

    That’s an actual photo!

  • @stooge389
    @stooge3892 ай бұрын

    2:53 just like, officially, ALL Soviet Union citizens had the constitutional right to free speech.

  • @damackabet.4611

    @damackabet.4611

    2 ай бұрын

    Most of the west claim the same today, many of them dont actually have it if not all of them outside usa.

  • @PrimetimeD
    @PrimetimeD2 ай бұрын

    Back when Spaniels were in the White House. Nice. ;)