Afraid of their own government

The people in the west and advanced industrial nations are lucky enough that they elect their own government, elections are held on time and they chose their representatives and those representatives are beholden to their constituents and work for them tirelessly. But there are several places on earth that people are afraid of their own government so much that the fear of being thrown in jail or tortured or killed for what they are doing or the beliefs that they have about certain things can stunt the growth of those citizens. Should those governments be considered legitimate who rule with fear rather than accountable to their citizens? These governments have incorporated the tool of fear and repressive tactics to legitimatize their rule and believe that ordinary people are not capable of rational decisions and thus have to be treated in a certain way. But this fear goes both ways, the citizens afraid of their own government and the government in turn afraid of their people but in that case, governments can intimidate and harasses their citizens but only to a certain point. Unless people are made aware of their rights, they will continue to afraid of their own government but how can they be aware of that when most of these citizens are worried more about surviving day to day (which is again the fault of the government) then to be worried about what rights they should have and what they can expect and demand of their government. These governments only know how to rule with fear and this fear of intimidation stunts the growth of nation’s economies. I don’t have to tell you which governments are doing it, just research and you will find a number of countries fall in this category. It is a shame but it is happening and slowly and surely changes are and have been coming when the atmosphere of this fear will be eliminated.