Many of the external threats that were long an excuse for dictatorial rule have dissipated.

ECONOMIST: Arabs tiptoe to democracy

The goal is to replace a largely ceremonial system, originally designed to drape dictatorial rule in a cloak of electoral legitimacy, with one that functions as a vehicle to carry the will of voters.

CNN: THE NEW ELECTION MATH

Gadhafi after four decades of dictatorial rule.

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But a particularly violent one in 1987 turned the tide on three decades of dictatorial rule: The death of a student brought ordinary Koreans into streets and forced then president Chun Doo Hwan to bow to demands for democracy.

CNN: ASIANOW - Asiaweek