My analogy may well have been flawed, thus the subject.
> Having "authoritarian" as a criterion for goodness/badness is silly
> anyway. What matters is how the people in the country are doing, which
> is generally tied into how effective the government is at solving
> problems, not to its form.
Should I assume your definition of "the people" does not include those unfortunates that may have to be thrown in prison or killed in order to effectively solve problems?