Marcos's network of supporters
wanted benefits, favors, and protection; in turn, Marcos needed their support, so the
interests of Marcos and his supporters converged in order to make an authoritarian
regime possible.
The Philippine experience in authoritarian rule is not unique.Most Third World countries are being ruled by authoritarian governments; in fact, most countries of the world do not have democratic political systems. Democracy in these instances is understood as "a political system which supplies regular constitutional opportunities for changing government officials, and a social mechanism which permits the largest possible part of the population to influence major decisions by choosing among contenders for political office. "' Some leaders of authoritarian governments attained their positions of leadership through election; however, many were installed after prevailing in a power struggle among the strongest competing groups.
How do authoritarians maintain themselves in power? A commonsense answer may be that their ruthlessness and repression silences or eliminates opposition. One cannot deny that a government's violence against its own citizens works toward maintaining a government's power. Humans hesitate to act when they know that their acts may result in torture or death. Marcos certainly employed terrorist tactics against his opponents, but can terror alone explain the staying power of regimes? Many regimes, despite repressive tactics, were unable to maintain themselves. When thinking of the control systems set up by authoritarians, one has to take into account that these systems entail costs. If, for some reason, a dictator cannot find the money to pay the costs of his repression, his regime will not be able to resist opposition.
Another possible explanation for authoritarian power holds that economic development in underdeveloped countries is possible only under the close direction of a centralized authority. Proponents claim that if the society is to progress economically, order must be established and certain practices (usually of a feudal nature) must be reformed to make progress possible. Such "progress" in a society is painful, and a centralized authority needs to curb liberty in order to ensure that order is established and maintained in spite of the pain. Marcos eloquently justified his establishment of order:
The primary problem in many modernizing societies is not liberty but the creation of a legitimate public order. Men may, of course, have order without liberty, but they cannot have liberty without order.