BBC (May 10)
“Mahathir Mohamad is on course to become the world’s oldest elected leader at 92, after a shock victory in Malaysia’s bitterly fought election” over his former protégé Najib Razak also “ousted the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, which has been in power since independence in 1957.”
Tags: BN coalition, Elected, Election, Independence, Leader, Mahathir, Malaysia, Najib Razak, Oldest, Shock victory
New York Times (May 24)
For today’s dictator, “soaring approval ratings are a more cost-effective path to dominance than terror.” While a few violent dictators still remain, there has been a sea change in methods. “A new brand of authoritarian government has evolved that is better adapted to an era of global media, economic interdependence and information technology.” So-called ‘soft’ dictators like Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Peru’s Alberto Fujimori and Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad “concentrate power, stifling opposition and eliminating checks and balances, while using hardly any violence.”
Tags: Approval, Authoritarian, Cost-effective, Erdogan, Fujimori, Government, IT, Mahathir, Malaysia, Media, Opposition, Peru, Soft dictators, Terror, Turkey, Violence
