In Defense of Dictators

Remember when I contemplated writing a defense of brutal dictators? Well, after reading a couple of interesting articles on Zimbabwe in last week’s Economist, I think now is as good a time as any to spill. As you may or may not know, Robert Mugabe (blue tie), who has ruled Zimbabwe for 30 years by deftly blending his brutality and blame shifting with his dazzling ineptitude at governing, was defeated at the polls 2 1/2 years ago by Morgan “buy a vowel” Tsvangirai (yellow tie). In the wake of the election, after some bloody reprisals against Tsvangirai’s supporters, he and Mugabe agreed to a “power sharing” agreement, in which Mugabe retains the power and Tsvangirai gets to do all the sharing.

But this story didn’t end like I expected it to and for the last 2 years I’ve had a little cognitive dissonance up in the old cranium when Zimbabwe comes to mind. I am curious as to exactly what Morgan Tsvangirai is doing on a day to day basis and also why he is still alive. Robert Mugabe may not be the most popular leader in the world, but he has been able to utilize black Zimbabwean resentment toward white Zimbabweans (whose land Mugabe forcefully redistributed to blacks) and toward current western sanctions to maintain enough popular support to supplement the usual thuggish instruments of autocracy: intimidation, forcible detention, torture, killing, etc. I assumed that Tsvangirai must have been surviving by employing the same kind of thuggish tactics in a region of Zimbabwe under his control and by staying away from the regions that Mugabe controls.

I was wrong. In the articles I read, I found out that Tsvangirai actually joins cabinet meetings with Mugabe every Monday, “apparently without rancour.” Though he himself has been imprisoned, “beaten to a pulp,” and had his skull “broken” by Mugabe’s supporters, Tsvangirai now meets with him regularly and has even become somewhat of an apologist for Mugabe’s behavior, refusing to criticize many of his policies. Since Tsvangirai is choosing his words so carefully it is hard to know what his intentions are, but a recent quote hints at his patient strategy, while offering insight on just how difficult it can be to be a dictator, or rather to stop being a dictator. “He’s an old man who wants to let go,” says Tsvangirai. “He’s looking for an exit strategy that restores his legacy in Zimbabwe and the world.”

I think the thing we fail to consider when we criticize brutal dictators is how hard it is to retire. The bigger the target that you have painted on yourself is, the harder it is to find an exit strategy. As many an after-school special can attest, it is easy for little lies to grow into big ones. It is also true that during any leader’s rise to power, it is easy for little moral compromises to grow into big ones. Many (perhaps every) leader who gains political power has had to make deals with numerous devils to do so. The worse you are at actually governing, the more deals you have to make. These deals will often get you what you want in the short run (i.e. power), but you will be paying down the mortgage of deception, conditional friendships, and indignant enemies for the rest of your life.

Consider Mugabe: as a young man he seemed to be a righteous warrior fighting to overthrow the white minority racist rule of Ian Smith. He was a political prisoner for ten years. But as he filled the power vacuum in the wake of Southern Rhodesia’s demise he was forced to battle a Marxist faction of former allies. You can imagine the progression.

1) The desire to overthrow tyranny makes you violent.

2) The desire to replace tyranny with the “right” brand of freedom tempts you to dabble in repression and demagoguery.

3) The desire to give your newly created society a chance to succeed induces you to institutionalize repression (think Gestapo, KGB, Comité de salut public)

4) The desire to avoid reprisals against you and your allies forces you to keep your hands on the levers of power indefinitely.

I’m not going to shed any tears for the plight of poor Robert Mugabe, but I can imagine how easy it might be to get backed into a corner even when you start out as a starry-eyed reformer. Mugabe is probably among the most hideous criminals alive today and justly deserves punishment. I think it is fascinating that Morgan Tsvangirai seems to be offering him a way to avoid that punishment, offering him that elusive exit strategy in exchange for a chance at democracy in Zimbabwe. Based on this week’s news, it appears that Tsvangirai is running out of patience. We can only hope that Mugabe’s moral degeneration (or his senility) hasn’t divested him of the last shred of his former idealism.