He who does not learn from history is bound to repeat it.
During most of the 20th century, large parts of Europe were under Fascistic or totalitarian governments. Such a large occurrence cannot be construed as a coincidence. What could be the reason behind this simultaneous sweep of dictatorial governments across Europe?
The people wanted a 'strong leadership'. Rattled by the war (the First World War), most of these countries were in disarray. The economy was faltering, the morale was low and people were desperate for a 'strong leader' who would lead them from gloom to glory. This strong leadership is of course a politically correct way of saying 'dictator'.
This mood of the people was exploited by fascists to seize power and instill their conservative, authoritarian and totalitarian governments. Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Salazar, Stalin and Ataturk all came to power due to the desire of the people to have a strong leadership (of course, their own charisma and media manipulation that enabled them to establish a personality cult also helped).
We know how this turned out for these countries.
Recently, I saw the results of a survey that said that a majority of college/school students in India believed that there was a need for a militaristic government that would be lead by a 'strong leader'. I can confidently say that this feeling is echoed in the minds of many adults too, especially those in middle and upper-middle classes. They were losing confidence in democracy - corruption was all pervasive, governance was poor and the economy was faltering.
The stage is set. Will history repeat itself?
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