During his three terms he ruled autocratically, fought the New Deal, and brought Georgia education to a low estate with his witch hunts in schools and colleges.
Though he maintained the trappings of a constitutional monarchy, he in fact ruled autocratically, relying on SAVAK, a dreaded secret police, to suppress all forms of opposition.
That this example has been so widely copied is perhaps an indication that it is easier to rule people autocratically than to reason with them.