I agree with your conclusion; though additionally I think two factors for why we don’t see such repentance often is just the general human tendency of not wanting to admit you are wrong (magnified in the case where a dictator admitting they are wrong is extremely costly personally and morally taxing), plus the type of personality that gets into those positions selects against this kind of behavior.
I agree with your conclusion; though additionally I think two factors for why we don’t see such repentance often is just the general human tendency of not wanting to admit you are wrong (magnified in the case where a dictator admitting they are wrong is extremely costly personally and morally taxing), plus the type of personality that gets into those positions selects against this kind of behavior.
This tendency also reminds me of a potentially similar dynamic of scientists not admitting they are wrong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%27s_principle