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At this point the reporter wanted to learn more about these dictator-types in a democracy. Post has studied the psyches of Saddam, Kadhafi, and Milosevič, but what is the situation of the dictator-type in a democratic society? Post’s answer was that democracies simply don’t know what to do with these people. Their opportunities are restricted to certain segments of business life or the underground. In a well functioning democracy checks and balances prevent the formation of a dictatorship.

When Zentai objected and brought up the examples of Chavez’s Venezuela or Lukasenko’s Belarus, Post’s answer was that in these countries there is no “demand for real and functioning democracy.” These countries don’t have a democratic tradition and a civic society with a well developed media.

Finally, Post pointed to the changes that are taking place in the Arab world. He optimistically announced that in the future dictatorships will have a decreasing chance of survival. Especially in a globalized world where individual countries’ total independence in internal affairs is diminishing. In his opinion the international community can use more and more instruments to foil the ambitions of present and future dictators.

But what if the system of checks and balances is legally weakened? What will happen then to the would-be dictator in a democracy?

read whole article Hungarian Spectrum: An interview with Jerrold Post in Budapest.