Advantages Of Authoritarianism In Achieving Economic Growth

Just over a few decades ago, China, South Korea and Singapore were among the poorest with underdeveloped, weak economies. However, these economies were able to grow rapidly and successfully as they were under the authoritarian regimes during their period of growth. Now, the question is: How has authoritarianism helped these states in achieving economic growth? Political stability is one of the most significant authoritarian advantages to economic growth because it allows leaders to come up with long-term planning. In the case of democratic politicians, projects that one party considers to be important cannot be carried forward as soon as the opposing party wins office. On the other hand, authoritarian leaders have better chances of properly concluding their planned projects since electoral terminal is not applicable to them. People do not have the power to vote out the …show more content…
The key to this question is to think about corruption. The level of corruption presented determines the state’s circumstances of economic growth. Therefore, it is unconvincing to argue that North Korea could not achieve economic development because it is authoritarianism. Instead, people should consider other factors such as, which in this case, corruption.
Furthermore, some argue that the advantages of authoritarianism to economic growth are not worth sacrificing human rights and civil liberties of the citizens. However, they need to think about what the poor countries consider as their priority. Economic growth and economic freedom are antithetic concepts. At the early stages of economic development, achieving both the growth and freedom is close to impossible; thus, choosing one and giving up another is very crucial. To the poor states, economic growth comes first. Consequently, they are willing to withhold and sacrifice their freedom to facilitate economic