Demagogue

I may recently have given the impression that I am not particularly enamored of Cambodian strongman prime minister Hun Sen and his kleptocracy government.

Accordingly, I can only wish the World Bank good luck in its latest endeavor in that afflicted land.

On the other hand, this line from the project documents applies to many more governments than Cambodia's alone--all of them, in fact:

Governments rarely reform spontaneously or expose themselves voluntarily to public scrutiny. Stimulating demand from citizens for greater accountability and better quality of services therefore becomes an important tool for improving governance.

Can anyone think of another example of a country whose government has become secretive and ignored constitutional limitations on its powers because the citizenry has not challenged the leadership sufficiently?