http://www.serendipity.li/cia/cia_time.htm http://www.google.com/search?q=cia+dictators&
amp;sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rl
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http://www.serendipity.li/cia/cia_time.htm
http://www.google.co...GL_nl___GB234 [show less]

http://www.grupthink.com/topic/11430

Working with the assumption that you refer to stable dictatorships, such as Hussien's, then yea, it's the people. Follow me here.... [show more]

Working with the assumption that you refer to stable dictatorships, such as Hussien's, then yea, it's the people. Follow me here.

1. Governments govern only with the consent of the governed.

2. Governements cease governing when they have actively alienated the governed.

3. Therefore, any stable government must have the consent of the government. That does not necessarily mean approval. It just means that they may not feel it to be bad enough to do anything about it.

A bit more.

First, we are ignoring non-stable dictatorships here, because obviously they don't have enough to 'fuel & enable' them. Otherwise they would be stable.

Second, also obviously, any government to which the majority of people are opposed will be overthrown. Massive armies do not prevent guerilla warfare, subversive terrorism, etc.

Thirdly, every government, even democratic ones, come to an end when the governed have lost enough faith in them. Recalling Plato, who history has largely verified in this 'observation', governments follow a cycle. Government type A is instituted for such and such types of reasons, eventually fails for such and such types of reasons, and often leads to governments of type B.

It all boils down to what people feel they need enough to tolerate at the time. [show less]

They are "proactive" in their wiping out of enemies, real or imagined.