Democracy and dictatorship are data processing questions. Dictatorship is centralized data processing while democracy is decentralized, distributed data processing. Extending the argument, one can see that a democratic leader takes decisions including many other nodes. A dictatorial one relies on his/her own judgment and acts in a way that advances his/her version of truth. In practice, most leaders fall on the spectrum of democratic inclusion and dictatorial decisiveness.

In his book Sixteen Stormy Days, Cambridge academic Tripurdaman Singh paints a picture of Jawaharlal Nehru that is different from popular discourse. Singh neither regards him as the cause of every problem in India nor as the ultimate definition of democratic idealism.