The approach is entirely light hearted. There's no torture or drugs. There are, I suppose, death squads and repression, but it's still very light-hearted. There is squalor. It takes a while for industry and electricity to arrive.
Prosperity is elusive and shantytowns are the norm.
Railroad Tycoon II was wide open to player choice and no two games played alike, but Tropico seems to call for a fairly uniform course of action. Namely, make everyone as happy as you can. Of course, I make no claims to having mastered the game's nuances, but so far I've had little luck with repression. If I ignore religion or housing, for instance, my presidency comes tumbling down. This is partly because some soldiers get upset if you don't provide religion and housing.