What Makes a Great Dictator?

An excellent idea Sigma! I thought given that the blog idea stemmed from what we talked about in class, I should probably post a blog. So here goes...

We always talk about what makes a good democrat -- a good democracy -- but there are still many dictatorship in the world. Is democracy the best form of government for all countries, for all people? Well, the good people in Belarus just "voted" in their dictator, Aleksandr Lukashenko back into power with 83% of the vote. Of course, there are cries of rigged elections -- but could it be that some people actually wanted him back in power? (See New York Times "A Dictator's "Re-Election"", 22 March 2006) What did he have to offer to Belarus? Some say stability -- even if he sometimes used authoriatarian means. What is his human rights record? According to Freedom House, Belarus scores 7 on political rights and 6 on civil liberties (on a scale from 1-7 with 7 being not free). Okay, so he doesn't allow for freedom of speech, political association, or real political participation -- very important if you want to be a succesful dictator. I wonder what Mr. Lukashenko's childhood was like? Often dictators have had pretty horrible childhoods -- Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic and Hitler come to mind--
Anyway, some rambling food for thought.