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Notes -
Monarchy? I guess the bureaucrats and regulation are on par with democracy but by virtue of the king doing whatever he damned pleases he very much could curtail the excessive bureaucratization of society.
I don't want to start shilling for Hans-Herman Hoppe here but he's right on the money. You need the ruler(kings in this case) to care about the well being of his domain, instead of having a revolving door of politicians who are only in the game to get theirs and get out.
In the best case, the Platonic ideal, maybe. But then we should be comparing to a best case for democracy, something like a republic of highly-engaged, highly-informed voters. They have all the same reasons as the monarch to care about their domain. What’s stopping them from voting to curtail the bureaucracy?
Well, the bureaucrats,, naturally. Whoever was benefiting from their entrenchment might also object. And it’s even possible that the bureaucrats actually were providing more value than they skimmed.
All of these pitfalls obviously apply to autocracies, too! Emperors aren’t immune to the pressure, political or social, to avoid upending the apple cart. Today’s monarchies have plenty of short-term strategy, lavish spending on public image, and bureaucratization.
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