Gradually_Adjusting , 8 months ago

Even guys like Putin and Kim Jong are only absolute tyrants in certain senses. Their governments are still rife with factions and competing interests, and they can only wield power in prescribed ways. Thinking of their nations as like Mecha that they get to pilot is not as apropos as it was for, e.g., a Mongol Khan. If a Khan died, the whole empire would grind to a halt until succession was resolved back home, even mid-conquest. Modern states are more akin to a Voltron, and the power dynamic is necessarily less direct.

Edit to add: there is definitely an argument however that, owing to the nature of nuclear weaponry and the tactical necessity of having one leader with that sole power, the power dynamic of modern statehood can more easily be suborned by a nuclear leader. It may well be part of the logic historians of the future use to conveniently explain our slouching towards authoritarianism of late.