Home > Dictatorship
A dictatorship is a government headed by a dictator or more generally any authoritarian or totalitarian government. It is considered to be the polar opposite of a democracy.
A dictatorship is often seen as equivalent to a police state, but the term dictatorship refers to the way the leaders gain and hold power, not the watch kept on the citizens. Some dictators have been popular enough not to have to employ many very oppressive measures. The term generally has a pejorative meaning in reference to a government that does not allow a nation to determine its own political direction by popular election.
Originally a legitimate military office in the Roman Republic, a "dictator" was an official given emergency powers by the Senate. The dictator had absolute power, but for a limited time. This was initially intended to deal with some state of emergency. In modern times, claims of such states of emergency are often used to justify seizures of power and suspensions of civil rights.
1 Styles
In the 20th century, the term dictatorship has come to mean a form of government in which absolute power is concentrated in the hands of a dictator and sometimes his supporters; it can also refer to the consolidation of power by a single-party, military, head of state, or head of government.
1.1 Characteristics of Dictatorships
- Many dictators have held the formal title of " PresidentPresident is a title held by many leaders of organizations, companies, universities, and countries. Etymologically, a "president" is one who presides, who sits in leadership (from Latin prae "before" + sedere "to sit"). Originally, the term usually referr", but wield extraordinary, often non- constitutionThe Constitution of a given organisation defines its form, structure, activities, character, and fundamental rules. To view particular constitutions, refer to the list of national constitutions. The term comes from Latin constitutio which referred to anyal or de factoDe facto is a Latin expression that means "in fact" or "in practice", commonly used as opposed to de jure (meaning "by law") when referring to matters of law or governance or technique (such as standards), that are found in the common experience as create powers. In the case of many AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest continent in both area and population, after Asia. 30,244,050 km2 (11,677,240 mi2) including the islands, it covers 20. 3% of the total land area on Earth, and with over 800 million human inhabitants it accounts for arn or AsiaThe continent of Asia is defined by subtracting Europe and Africa from the great land mass of Africa-Eurasia. The boundaries are vague, especially between Asia and Europe: Asia and Africa meet somewhere near the Suez Canal. The boundary between Asia and En former colonies, after achieving their independence, the presidential regime was gradually transformed into a dictatorship, but the title remained. CommunistThis article is about one-party states ruled by Communist Parties. For information regarding communism as a form of society, as an ideology advocating that form of society, or as a popular movement, see the main Communism article. In common speech in the dictators, by contrast, often held different titles, such as " general secretarythe term General Secretary (alternatively First Secretary denotes a leader of various unions, parties or associations. The most notable usages are the following. The official title of the de-facto leader of the Soviet Union was the General Secretary of th."
- Some dictators gain or continue to hold a military post - this is the common case in the Latin American dictatorial regimes.
- The Fascist regimes created in Europe after World War I brought back ancient national and religious traditions, confronting them with political models considered to be foreign or imposed by foreigners (an euphemism for democracy).
