of coarse the term "benevolent dictator" is a rather subjective term.
One of the so-called benevolent dictators was King Leopold II of Belgium.
He brought prosperity and built the second railroad in Europe and he is basically the king that turned belgium from a pack of farmers into an important european monarchy. On the other hand he was also the owner of Congo Free State and he was responsible for the death of millions of african slaves working for the Belgians extracting rubber and hunting down elephants for ivory.
So, while he is known to Belgians as the "King-Builder" (atleast to the belgians who know who he was) and even a lot of people in (The democratic republic of) the Congo still believe he is their spiritual uncle who brought them civilization, he stands as a monument to the cruelty of imperialism.
One could even state that Adolf Hitler was a benevolent dictator.
As for a United Europe, I think Bismarck was correct when he said that a United Europe is and will always be a fool's dream (not his exact words, but you get the message)
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pat b
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