In Myanmar, Iraq, North Korea, and Cuba, despotic regimes not only survived the imposition of sanctions, but became more despotic.

In Myanmar, Iraq, North Korea, and Cuba, despotic regimes not only survived the imposition of sanctions, but became more despotic.

Does this mean that the world should do nothing about despotic regimes?

Since then, the Kurds have suffered under the despotic rule of rival ethnic groups.

Liberal values, however, are threatened as thoroughly by state incapacity as by despotic power.

He will be remembered as an African leader of major historical significance visionary, despotic, and indispensable.

It deserves better than to be dressed up in Communist or despotic garb to block democratization.

Egyptians and Tunisians are right to be proud of their desire to peacefully overthrow despotic governments.

NEW YORK Does monarchy constitutional monarchy, that is, not the despotic kind have any redeeming features left?

Even the US must reconsider its regional policy, which has long depended on alliances with despotic Sunni rulers.

To declare unlawful what is immoral is not a big step towards the Good, it is a despotic drift.

Indeed, a dangerous emotional discourse has emerged, reflecting and feeding the worst stereotypes of the lazy South and the despotic North.

Indeed, sanctions weaken an economy and public health, but do not necessarily make it more likely that a despotic regime will collapse.

At roughly the same time, five prominent opposition intellectuals living in exile released a reformist, not revolutionary, manifesto directed against the despotic guardians.

But looking back on the 1970's and 1980's, the socioeconomic failures of the despotic regimes that embodied this worldview are glaringly obvious.

This bizarre brew appears to have been concocted in an effort to reconcile the irreconcilable the current yearning for democracy with Russia s despotic past.

On the subject of despotic rulers, Rouhani offered only the benign observation that they lack the ability to connect with and understand their people.

Beyond the survey data, history has shown that liberal ideas become more popular when a despotic monarch governs people in alliance with a religious establishment.

Leaders can thus be made prisoners in their own countries. Smart sanctions can also specifically target the trade in military goods, cutting off despotic regimes' armed forces.

Liberal values, however, are threatened as thoroughly by state incapacity as by despotic power. All over the world, including two of its largest countries, the implications of this truth loom menacingly.

Rodríguez Sáa is also the ex governor of San Luis, where he governed with a sure despotic hand for 19 years a reign the poor endured because he bribed them as well.

He examines the emergence of three categories of political institutions the state, the rule of law, and accountable government, the latter two being constraints on the state that prevent it from becoming despotic.

The Arab public is fully aware of the close alliances that existed between the West and the now defunct despotic regimes, yet they have exhibited no desire for vengeance or retribution towards the West.

KYIV From snowy Kyiv, I have watched the successful revolutions in Cairo and Tunis with joy and admiration. Egyptians and Tunisians are right to be proud of their desire to peacefully overthrow despotic governments.

Indeed, that peaceful revolution, led by Viktor Yushchenko and Yuliya Tymoshenko, was a reminder of how enlightened Kievan Rus had been before it was forced to give way to the despotic princes of Moscow.

Smart sanctions can also specifically target the trade in military goods, cutting off despotic regimes' armed forces. Moreover, foreign aid can be shifted away from government towards non governmental organizations, strengthening the civil societies in such countries.

On the other hand, the Muslim Brotherhood, thought to be the single strongest opposition group in Egypt, are urging their followers to caste ballots and vote their conscience but not to give support to any despotic, corrupt rulers.

They tend to be the most despotic and corrupt, not because poor people care less about good governance on the contrary, their very lives depend on it but because they lack the means to keep their government disciplined and law abiding.

Indeed, sanctions weaken an economy and public health, but do not necessarily make it more likely that a despotic regime will collapse. Sanctions purportedly undermine the regime by causing widespread unrest and by reducing the government's power base and tax collections.

The US Congress has voted almost unanimously (418 to 2 in the House of Representatives and 94 to 1 in the Senate) to tighten trade and financial sanctions against Myanmar, whose despotic regime harasses and repeatedly imprisons the country's rightful leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Orange Revolution of 2004, which overturned a rigged presidential election, proved that Ukraine was no longer a Malorossiya (a small Russia), an inferior and subordinate Slavic brother. Indeed, that peaceful revolution, led by Viktor Yushchenko and Yuliya Tymoshenko, was a reminder of how enlightened Kievan Rus had been before it was forced to give way to the despotic princes of Moscow.