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Political theory 002: Dictatorship

Dictatorship is considered by many to be the worst and most corrupted form of government. In Aristotlean terms, Deictatorship is Tyranny, the corrupted form of autocracy. Where one man rules many but for only his own good.

They say that “Power corrupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Well, Dictator have complete power and usually rule very corrupt regimes where the people are not looked after and often live in abject poverty, while the Dictator resides in his Golden Palace.

Dictators have been around since the dawn of man. Selfish Stone Age Tribal leaders, Dionysous the Elder (and the Younger) of Sicily, Julius Caesar, Stalin, Idi Amin and Robert Mugabe are all well known examples of Dictators. Possibly the greatest examp.e of a dictator is in fact fictional though, Emporer Palpatine of Star Wars acclaim!

A major characteristic of a Dictatorship is that their oppressive rule is enforced by a powerful military force. The Stone Agre Dictator was the biggest Caveman of the bunch, Stalin had his KGB and Palpatine was supported by the all powerful Stormtroopers.

This military power is essential in the running of a Dictatorship, for how else could a dictator's tyrannical rule be enforced? They do not look after the people only themselves and therefore can only rule through fear and intimidation.

A dictator, being an autocrat, can make any decisions that he wants without fear of reproach from his citizens. The successful Dictator's populace will be too opressed and accustumed to drudgery that they will not have the spirit to even complain and know that if they did, they would be killed.

Dictatorships are usually totalitarian. The Dictator controls every aspect of the populace's lives and since a dictator can do what they like, this is indeed very dangerous. Look at Zimbabwe at the moment with inflation at over 1000% (we in Ireland are panicking at going over 4%...) brought about by Mugabe's brutal regime. You will notice however that Mugabe himself is fine and that the opposition to his rule has been rathe rlimited and subdued.

Next lesson: Monarchy, Autocracy at its best

If you want to ask any questions please do so and feel free to start a discussion on this lesson.