India, Oct. 4 -- How do you draw a distinction between a tyrant in an authoritarian regime and a cruel leader in a democracy although there might be a lot of similarities between the two?

Democratic rulers can be cruel, but they face more constraints than tyrants. Not only do they face independent courts and investigative journalists, they must keep a much larger share of the population on their side to maintain power. In combination, their room for manoeuvre is smaller than that of dictators.

How challenging is it for dictators to maintain a continued grip on power?

Unlike democratic leaders, dictators have a high chance of being forced into exile, imprisoned or even killed when they are toppled. As a result, they have to try their be...