In most (but not all) of the world, democracy is seen as the
most legitimate system of government. This is the case to such
an extent that dictators often cloak themselves in faux
democracy in an attempt to gain legitimacy. A historic example
is when East Germany was called the German Democratic Republic.
If a country has "Democratic" or "Republic" in it's name, you
can rest assured that it is neither democratic nor a republic.
Dictators will often attempt to cement their rule through
democracy. This is what Hugo Chavez is doing in Venezuela. He
recently got the constitution amended to eliminate presidential
term limits, after failing the first time around. Now he just
has to keep winning (or rigging) elections to stay in power as
long as he wants. (Side note: Here's a great story about a pro-
Chavez baseball player getting viciously booed.) Ilham Aliyev is
doing the same thing in Azerbaijan. He already has the vote-
rigging thing down, so he doesn't have to worry about the
outcome of the referendum. But he sti