Many countries include ‘Democratic’ or ‘People’s’ in their names, even though they are not democratic and do not serve their people. Examples: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Lao People’s Democratic Republic People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria Democratic Republic of the Congo And German Democratic Republic (East Side) in 1949–1990. None of these states are democratic, power and wealth are concentrated in the hands of a small ruling elite. Who are they fooling with these names?

  • Amnesigenic@lemmy.ml
    1·
    12 days ago

    Nothing about this is inevitable, use of force does not magically obligated one to continue using force or to use it inappropriately, wielding authority does not magically corrupt people, these are the direct result of material conditions and different conditions can and do have different results

    • AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      12 days ago

      State-scale institutions are always conglomerations of adaptive subsystems (or quickly become so, if they’re not completely dysfunctional). This institutional ecosystem selects for subsystems that use state institutions to perpetuate themselves—and its these systems, not the individuals within them, that increasingly evolve to exploit the state’s authoritarian powers.