The Dictator's Playbook

[redrikki]

PBS has a new show called The Dictator's Playbook, which looks at a bunch of real world dictators and analysis their rise to power. Watching it, one of the things that struck me is that most (successful) dictators do something which benefit's the masses immediately upon taking power as a means of gaining their support. Kim Il-Sung implemented land reforms which gave peasants their own farms for the first time in ever. Saddam Hussain granted equal rights for women and used oil money for infrastructure projects, free universal health care, and free universal education. Mussolini made the trains run on time. It got me thinking. What, exactly, did Palpatine and the Empire do to cement the loyalty of the masses?

The Dictator's Playbook