Democracy and Enlightened Authoritarianism

Abstract

Modern democracies are very different from the city-state democracy in ancient Greece, being ruled by competing elites, assisted by professional, permanent bureaucracies. To secure reelection, ruling elites have to pander to often ill-informed and disinterested voters. This is a formidable barrier to necessary reforms that in the short run are likely to be unpopular. Governing elites are tolerated and rewarded in good times and punished in bad times, even if they have limited control over events. Is democracy a way of governing in good times? Recent history shows examples of democratic elites pushed aside in times of economic difficulties by usurpers in waiting. Democracy is good at distributing the fruits of economic growth more evenly, possibly to the point of hampering or even reversing economic growth. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the roots of the industrial revolution lie in societies where only a fraction of the relevant age group had the right to vote. Recent economic miracles of East Asia all happened under enlightened authoritarianism, which in some countries has morphed into democratic government.