Analysis is built on distinctions. And in these times of upheaval ??in the Arab world, distinctions are being lost. All autocrats are not bad, as some neoconservatives are proclaiming, and should not be overthrown. The moral differences between one dictator and another are as vast as those between dictators and democrats. There is such a thing as a benevolent dictator – and we should not turn our back on all those that remain.

Vision, perceived legitimacy, the existence of a social contract and the ability to make society more institutionally complex – and thus ready for more freedom – are the distinguishing characteristics of good dictators. Libya’s Muammer Gaddafi, for example, is not remotely in the same category as Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Sa’id, whose kingdom has seen violent youth demonstrations in recent days. Egypt’s former Brezhnevite dictator Hosni Mubarak should not be compared to Jordan’s energetic King Abdullah.

Oman’s Sultan Qaboos has built roads and schools throughout the rural interior, advanced the status of women and protected the environment. He governs with a vision similar to that of many erstwhile Asian dictators such as China’s Deng Xiaoping, Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew and Malaysia’s more problematic Mahathir Mohamad, who lifted their societies out of poverty and made them aspiring middle-class dynamos. Like the monarchs of Jordan, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates, Sultan Qaboos’s legitimacy is also built on royal tradition – which cannot be said of the security heavies of north African police states, who utterly lacked tradition and were equally void of vision.