Dictatorship

A dictatorship is a form of government, where one person effectively has all the power to run a country. This person is called a dictator. In very few cases, a small group of people holds this power, which is called an oligarchy.^[1] A dictatorship that is ruled by soldiers is called a military dictatorship or junta. An absolute monarchy (the system where there are Kings and Queens who have full power over their country) can be considered to be a dictatorship, but the people are usually not called dictators.^[2]

Roman dictators were temporary rulers appointed to protect the state during a war or other emergency. Many countries have laws that allow a similarly time-limited dictatorship, to fight against such problems. Karl Marx has the idea of the Dictatorship of the proletariat. When they became independent in the 1960s and 1970s, many African states changed to be dictatorships, run by one person. Karl Popper distinguished between two different forms of government, "Those where it is possible to change the government without bloodshed, in a popular vote, and those where it isn't." He said that this was the key difference, and not how the forms of government are named.

Dictators often come to power in times of difficulty, such as massive unemployment, inflation, and unrest among the population. Dictators are normally backed by powerful groups, such as landowners, private company owners, bank owners and in some cases institutions like the Roman Catholic Church to put in place law and order by force. This force may be directed at the poorer parts of society, such as unemployed workers, ethnic minorities, working class areas and shanty towns. Examples of this are the dictatorships in Latin America and the prosecution of the Jewish community in 1940s Germany.

Dictators normally need to do a number of things to put in place their dictatorships: they need to get rid of their opponents (which may be political or religious) - some are imprisoned, exiled (sent outside their country) or killed. Dictators will then need to prohibit (or not allow) political parties that oppose their rule. They will confiscate (take away) the political parties' property or offices and such things. Dictators may suppress or persecute some religious groups or institutions. Dictators will also need to undo or close down democratic institutions such as parliament and in some cases the congress.

Some social organizations, such as civil rights groups, human rights organisations, legal aid centers, students' unions, teachers' federations, trade or workers unions are also undone and those who persist with such activities may be imprisoned or killed. Dictators often rewrite an existing constitution or put in place a completely new one. This makes their power constitutional (which then cannot be disputed). Dictators then maintain their rule with state terrorism, which normally involves a secret police, death squads, random or night curfew, indefinite arrest without trial and a network of torture centers and concentration camps. Some dictatorships create a fictional (or non existent) internal (inside their country) enemy which they claim to be at war with to justify (give reason for) their use of much military violence against their people.

Recent dictators

Africa

Idi Amin, in 1966. Amin ran the state of Uganda from 1971 to 1979, as a dictator. Amin was a brutal dictator. Between 300.000 and 400.000 people were killed during his dictatorship.
Mobutu Sese-Seko was the president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, from 1965 to 1997. He ruled like a dictator, his regime was seen as authoritarian. He tried to remove all colonial influences in his country.
Robert Mugabe was the president of Zimbabwe from 1987 to 2017. He did a lot for the country, also fighting the effects of colonialism. From about 2000, he ruled as a dictator. He was criticized for redistributing land for farming.
Hosni Mubarak was the president of Egypt, from 1981 to 2011. Corruption was widespread, and the Mubarak family amassed a large fortune. Mubarak was responsible for many economic reforms.

Latin America

Augusto Pinochet ruled Chile as a dictator from 1973 to 1990. During his reign, there were widespread reports of torture, and people regularly disappeared. Pinochet also made economic reforms, which benefitted Chile. He put economists in key positions of his government. After a popular vote, Chile returned to democracy, with free elections in 1990. There also were reports on corruption, and Pinochet wanting to evade taxes.
Alfredo Stroessner ruled Paraguay as a dictator from 1954 to 1989. During his reign, there were widespread reports of human rights abuses, like kidnappings, regular disappearances of people, extrajudicial killings and even ethnic cleansing.
Jorge Rafael Videla ruled Argentina as a dictator, from 1976 to 1983. There were large-scale human rights abuses during his reign.
Maximiliano Hernandez Marinez ran El Salvador from 1933 to 1966.
Guillermo Rodriguez Lara ran Ecuador from 1972 to 1977

Asia

Saparmurat Niyazov ruled Turkmenistan from 1992, to his death in 2006. There was a large leader cult, in Turkmenistan. He has an authoritarian style. Niyazov was very rich. He oppressed people who disagreed with him, and there were reports on human rights abuses.
Pol Pot was the leader of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Under his rule, there were many killings, and persecutions. Guesses are that 21% to 27% of Cambodia's population of 1975 were killed, under the rule of the Khmer Rouge.
Park Chung-hee ruled South Korea from 1963 to 1979. He ruled as a dictator, but did some reforms which benefited South Korea. He is generally seen in a positive light today. His daughter, Park Geun-Hye was the leader of an opposition party from 2001 to 2007.
Kim Il Sung ruled North Korea in a totalitarian communist manner from 1948 until his death in 1994. He is regarded as the "Eternal President" of North Korea today.
Mao Zedong was a dictator in China, from 1949 to 1976. He was directly or indirectly responsible for 40 to 80 million deaths.
Ferdinand Marcos was President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled as a dictator, declaring martial law, stealing money, and oppressing his people.
Suharto was the President of Indonesia from 1967 to 1998. He was a dictator who silenced opposition and enriched himself and his family.
Ho Chi Minh ran North Vietnam from 1951 to 1969
Lee Kuan Yew ran Singapore from 1959 to 1990. He ruled as a dictator, but still did many reforms which highly benefited Singapore. He is credited with helping Singapore to move from an undeveloped colony without natural resources to a high-income developed country in a single generation. He is mostly viewed as a benevolent dictator today.
Hideki Tōjō ran the Empire of Japan from 1941 to 1944. He was formally the Prime Minister of Japan at the time, but ruled the country as a dictator.