Answer 1
British and French colonialism in the 20th Century caused anger in the colonies. The locals just supported those that they thought were strong enough to defeat colonialism (Autocratic leaders).

Answer 2
It is not simply a question of a choice between dictatorship and democracy. Contrary to common conception, democracy is NOT voting for leaders; that is only one part of democracy. Just voting on leaders creates elected authoritarianism and majority-minority repression. There are a number of societal requisites that make democracy viable and many countries, including all Arab countries, lack these particular societal requisites. This has naturally geared them towards authoritarianism.

1) Nationalism over Tribalism: There has to be a sense in the country that every group in the country is better off with everyone else in the country succeeding than failing. The benefits that accrue to one group of people should not be at the expense of all other populations in a debilitating way. Arabs tend to advocate for their particular ethnic, tribal, or religious grouping as opposed for the benefit of all people under the same flag. This leads to autocracy because the only way that a particular ethnic/tribal/religious group will benefit to the exclusion of others is by dictatorial fiat.

2) Cross-Ethnic Civil Society: There has to be civil society organizations such as clubs, artist networks, political rights groups, and other similar organizations. But they must be united by cultural, philosophical, or humanitarian underpinnings as opposed to being a mechanism to foster tribalism. Arabs tend to only have civil society organizations that promote the divisions in their society such as political parties and religious groups. This lack of civil society prevents the idea and social cross-pollination that is critical to create political alliances based on platforms with concrete goals as opposed to political alliances for selected group benefits.

3) Literate Population and Freedom of Speech/Press: Most people are only exposed verbally to positions that they already agree with and characatures of positions that they do not agree with. As a result, being able to read and write exposes a person to opinions that completely disagree with their own opinion. This allows people to have different political beliefs than their families. Additionally, freedom must be granted to both express and actualize views contrary to those of the ruling coalition or the majority ethnic and religious groups. In Arab societies, there is a high degree of illiteracy and minimal education, especially among women. Additionally, individuals who disagree with the dominant popular vein are often jailed or tortured for their “seditious” views of wanting to discuss why they don’t want a theocracy.

4) Laws Evenly Applied / Rule of Law: No person, by dint of their power or connections, can be treated in a better manner than others and no person, on account of their differing religion, ethnicity, or tribe, should be treated worse. All people must have the expectation that a wrongdoer will be punished regardless of whether he is a male or a female or Muslim or a Non-Muslim and that the police will actively jail individuals intending to perform recriminations. In the Arab World, connected people and male Muslims tend to have a superior position and are given a degree of free reign to bully women and other minorities into compliance. When societies are inherently unequal, the group in power tries to use dictatorial fiat to keep the lower castes/ranks down and preserve their privilege.

5) Virtue of Compromise: This is probably most important. The goal of the political process must not be for one party to get everything it wants, but for every party to get enough of what it wants to be satisfied and to accept that as a valid resolution. Compromising and accepting less than what you wanted initially, is virtually non-existent in Arab circles.