It's long been clear to me that the massive failures almost always have little to do with the economic system but come with populist demagogues who are seen as saviors and then sainted iconic god-like figures Some take advantage of dictatorship opportunities in that situation from the getgo, others fall into it more slowly. Hitler, Mussolini, Mao, Castro, Gaddafi, Saddam, Chavez, the Perons-especially Evita....and as you say, the Shah and Pinochet....one could go on and on. Ortega is an example of someone who falls into it after a long rule.

I see the Soviet Union was an outlier, it became a huge nightmare bureaucracy, precisely because they didn't make it all about a single leader but just an ideology that was tweaked for different cultures (just like the Roman Catholic church.) Stalin just never made it to crazy beloved savior, sorry I will never buy that, he was enforcer of the Kafka system and did more damage than a lot of populist demagogues, but he was different than the usual. And It actually lasted a good while.

To a much lesser extent, massive failures also come from not keeping crime and security in check until it grows too big and powerful. A lot of times, that's when everyone is ripe for a demagogue to enter (see Mullah Omar.)

I've been thinking about how Africa is also an outlier less prey to fall into the single person savior thing because of the historically tribal nature of the culture, and indeed I see by a quick google that there is reference to  African populists often build strong mulity-ethnic support bases.

Here's a recent article I just found by googling, looks good but haven't read it yet:

What Populists Do to Democracies

According to our research, populist governments have deepened corruption, eroded individual rights, and inflicted serious damage on democratic institutions.

DEC 26, 2018 @ TheAtlantic.com,  Yascha Mounk Lecturer on government at Harvard University,  Jordan Kyle

Senior fellow at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change

Comes to mind we are actually so lucky that George Washington was not a demagogue and chose to leave. because there was a significant cult about him as a savior, probably a majority. Rather, with a few choice words of farewell, he said nope, ain't no kings here, you're on your own.