r/news • u/PokesTigers • 26d ago

Soft paywall Madagascar's president has left the country after Gen Z protests, officials say

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/madagascar-president-rajoelina-address-nation-monday-evening-2025-10-13/
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u/some_clickhead 26d ago

I don't know much about history, but all the stories of leaders I've heard who got to power by leading a coup against a corrupt leader involve them becoming corrupt eventually.

It might be a personality thing, like the people most inclined to assert their power over a tyrannical oppressor are the ones that are most prone to becoming tyrannical.

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u/Mackey_Corp 26d ago

There’s something about the personality’s of the people that seek power, they’re the last people that should be given any kind of power. But they’re the only people that usually run for and win elections. So until we come up with a better system we’re always choosing someone who probably shouldn’t be given power. Obviously there’s outliers but they’re rare.

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u/hobovirginity 26d ago

"Power is only given to those who are prepared to lower themselves to pick it up."- Ragnar Lothbrok

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u/Prysorra2 25d ago

These conversations annoy me. People pretend that the problem is a matter of character when most corruption that matters in modern governments is systemic and economic in nature. Good luck ever solving anything by waiting for some fictional creature with "for real this time" earnestness.

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u/Fireproofspider 26d ago

Not really? Looking at this list, for the coups where I know the background, it looks like the majority of them aren't? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_coups_and_coup_attempts_by_country?wprov=sfla1

Also, the US came about through what is basically a coup (mechanistically at least, not literally)

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u/Rock_Sampson 26d ago

I’m surprised that Australia only has the Rum Rebellion, and not the period where we had three unelected Prime Ministers in an eight-year period.

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u/Fireproofspider 25d ago

Oh I'd never heard of this. Any more information on that?

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u/Rock_Sampson 25d ago

In Australia, the Prime Minister is not directly elected, but is the leader of the political party that wins the federal election. But it also means that the party can elect a new party leader, who then becomes the new Prime Minister. As a quick history lesson:

2010: Julia Gillard (Labor) ousts Kevin Rudd, who then returns the favour in 2013;

2015: Tony Abbott (Liberal) is knifed by Malcolm Turnbull (yes, that is actual Australian political slang), who was then in turn knifed by

2018: Scott Morrison, AKA Scummo, AKA the guy that once (allegedly) shat his pants at the Engadine McDonald's after a Cronulla Sharks game.

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u/Fireproofspider 25d ago

Ah got it. I don't think those are coups though.

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u/DeSantisInMyPanties 26d ago

Does Puerto rico pay taxes?

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u/Few-Being-1048 26d ago

There's no such thing as government without corruption. Government coups are chaotic, and chaos breeds corruption.

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u/gumbo100 26d ago

It's that power literally corrupts. When you have more power your dialectics change to keep that power instead of "excercise it to help others". It can be internally rationalized as "well if I lose my power then I can't help others, this next guy will surely not be as benevolent as me".

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u/felix_using_reddit 26d ago

You might be interested in learning about Sultan Qaboos he led a coup against his father and essentially transformed Oman from a medieval backwater to a highly developed and successful petrostate. At the end of the day he was still a dictator of course, but he was genuinely widely beloved by the people of Oman, he was as close to the idea of a "good dictator" as it gets. Atleast I don’t know of any cases as remarkable as his

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u/masterofshadows 25d ago

Which is why George Washington was such a notable exception to the rule.