/politics/ - News & Politics

>>10089

>in the case of Bashar Assad

He's actually far less of a dictator than portrayed, the real power in Syria is state security, though the Iranians and Russians run the show now

>Gaddafi

>while gross domestic product had been $3.8 billion in 1969, it had risen to $13.7 billion in 1974, and $24.5 billion in 1979.[69] In turn, the Libyans' standard of life greatly improved over the first decade of Gaddafi's administration, and by 1979 the average per-capita income was at $8,170, up from $40 in 1951; this was above the average of many industrialized countries like Italy and the U.K.

>From 1969 to 1973, the RCC introduced social welfare programs funded with oil money, which led to house-building projects and improved healthcare and education.[74] In doing so, they greatly expanded the public sector, providing employment for thousands.[74]

>Compulsory education was expanded from 6 to 9 years old, while adult literacy programs and free university education were implemented; Beida University was founded, while Tripoli University and Benghazi University were expanded.[75] These early social programs proved popular within Libya

Most of the other guys follow similar patterns. Sure they're autocrats and suppressed opposition to their rule, but is that really all that different from the west?

Let's keep going though

>Shah

>With Iran's great oil wealth, the Shah became the pre-eminent leader of the Middle East, and self-styled "Guardian" of the Persian Gulf. In 1961, he defended his style of rule, saying "when Iranians learn to behave like Swedes, I will behave like the King of Sweden".

>In his "White Revolution" starting in the 1960s, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi made major changes to modernise Iran. He curbed the power of certain ancient elite factions by expropriating large and medium-sized estates for the benefit of more than four million small farmers. He took a number of other major measures, including extending suffrage to women and the participation of workers in factories through shares and other measures. In the 1970s the governmental program of a free of charge nourishment for children at school known as Taghziye Rāyegan (Persian: ) was implemented. Under the Shah's reign, the national Iranian income showed an unprecedented rise for an extended period.

>Improvement of the educational system was made through new elementary schools and additionally literacy courses were set up in remote villages by the Imperial Iranian Armed Forces, this initiative being called "Sepāh-e Dānesh" (Persian: ) meaning "Army of Knowledge". The Armed Forces were also engaged in infrastructural and other educational projects throughout the country "Sepāh-e Tarvij va Ābādāni" (Persian: ) as well as in health education and promotion "Sepāh-e Behdāsht" (Persian: ). The Shah instituted exams for Islamic theologians to become established clerics. Many Iranian university students were sent to and supported in foreign, especially Western countries and the Indian subcontinent.

>As to infrastructural and technological progress, the Shah continued and developed further the policies introduced by his father. As part of his programs, projects in several technologies, such as steel, telecommunications, petrochemical facilities, power plants, dams and the automobile industry may be named. The Aryamehr University of Technology was established as a major new academic institution