A little off topic but slightly related
I thought their demand for 12 melons to be delivered was a little weird this week. To risk setting things off into violence by demanding beforehand something so specific be delivered seems unnecessarily risky. If an animal or insects had gotten into the melons before the delivery what would have happened? A demand like Negan made to bring something good seems more reasonable or bring enough food to feed x number of people so many meals.

 

Yeah, Negan's form of rule only works in a fictional setting. In real life, Negan would have been offed by his own people long ago. Survivors have already demonstrated that they are willing to kill if necessary to stay alive and get by on what scraps they have. Don't push those people too much or they will kill you.

 

I disagree that it is only a fictional situation. This world has seen many dictatorships come into power by similar means and carried on for decades using fear to control it's people, and using various tactics to keep the higher class taken care of. North Korea, Cuba, there are many examples going back through history of this type of government working.

 

Of course, there is a better way, as can be seen on TWD. The Kingdom is a good example, Alexandria, Hilltop...

Negan doesn't want safety for his people. If he wanted that he wouldn't have burnt their only doctor alive and he wouldn't risk his people's lives by terrorizing others.
All he is interested in is power, that's it.
And in a world of anarchy with several different leaders of groups one can't trust, terror is Negan's way. He can't expect other leaders to give up their sceptres voluntarily.
Plus, he is a psychopath and enjoys power-games and the misery of others..

 

but those despots are isolated from their masses. i do think a real negan would have died in an uprising. the countries you mention have a history of cruel leader after cruel leader, and i think that makes a cultural difference, too, in how much people would tolerate for how long.

i'm thinking of how quickly americans adapted after the 9/11 hijackings. if anyone gets threatening on a plane now, he is going to be dog-piled. i don't think americans are likely to put up for long with being terrorized by a psychopath in the za, either.

 

Negan is a warlord, it works for a while and then they get overthrown. I could see a psycho like Negan in real life Europe after the fall of Rome. Eventually killed by his own. Look at Romes insane Emperors. And we will see the end of Negans warlord regime.

 

Like Caligula.
"Let them hate me, as long as they fear me."

 

Megan's model of dictatorship is too flawed to last. (History bears this out)
But the basics are sound in the short term:
Have lots of small mobile units patrolling the area and doing the hands on day to day business of collections etc
Have more than one base of operations so your enemy will never know where you are at any one time and your minions can't get complacent if they don't know when you could show up to check on them.
This unpredictable way of operating keeps everyone on their toes but it also means the leader has to be brutal enough to control so many individuals. He knows many of his men want to take him out but there are many more who wouldn't dare because they know he would exact some terrible retribution if any coup failed.
Things only get dicey when someone like rick shows up. And refuses to play ball. Even someone like Dwight could be a danger. This is where Megan's strategy could fail because whilst he is busy getting rick &eco to fall in line one of the unhappy men in negan army could take the opportunity to undermine him. Which is what Spencer tried to do with rick and probably why negan seemed to enjoy killing him.

 

That is a quote very fiting for Negan aswell!

 

Negan had no qualms about killing their doctor because he knows there is another at Hilltop.

 

Doesn't matter because
a) Carson at Hilltop could die or otherwise become indisposed due to a sickness or injury or whatever
b) Harlan Carson could easily kill Negan or anyone else of the Saviors with the wrong treatment since he despises them and Negan killed his brother
c) Dr. Carson from the Saviors was a part of the Savior community - and this especially shows that he doesn't care about his people.

Two doctors are always better than just one. If something happens to Harlan Carson, what then?

 

I think it would work for 5-10 years before someone killed him. I don't think its been that long though.

 

it wouldn't take that long if i were around.

 

I think Negan's regime could endure for a while because the rank-and-file folks inside the Savior compound are just trying to keep their heads down and survive. They know that even if Negan is a sadistic bastard, the one good thing he's doing is keeping the rest of his power-drunk followers in line. If just Negan were taken out, the ensuing power vacuum would cause chaos, endangering the lives of everyone in the compound. That means a coup would require more than just the assassination of Negan - it would require taking out most of his strongman as well. And when the inevitable downfall comes and the Saviors as a group disintegrate, you don't want those guys wandering around out in the wild. They'd end up like the Claimers (Joe's group) or the Wolves - savages who have no compunction about using force to take what they want from anyone they want.

 

Negan has a scorched earth policy -- everything from everybody else on the planet must come to him and his cabal. He does not control the brutality of his men. He ignores that he is stripping the earth of the products left from civilization and that his growing cabal of slaves and brutal minions cannot be fed forever off of the backs of the communities he has so brutally abused.