[88] European fascism was imported to Latin America as well, and the Vargas Era of Brazil was heavily influenced by the corporatism practiced in fascist Italy. When the war ended, these countries were incorporated into the Soviet sphere of influence, and the Soviet Union exercised control over their governments. 2. REUTERS/Myo Kyaw Soe. [4] Though the most recent data set is only updated for 2008, there is planning by Cheibub to update it to the present year. Most caudillos came from a military background, and their rule was typically associated with pageantry and glamor. [15] If the dictator has not seized power through a political party, then a party may be formed as a mechanism to reward supporters and to concentrate power in the hands of political allies instead of militant allies. North Korea - One man Dictatorship 2. Democracy-Dictatorship (DD), index of democracy and dictatorship or simply the DD index or the DD datasets was the binary measure of democracy and dictatorship first proposed by Adam Przeworski et al. [43] This idea references the heavy reliance on repression of the public in order to stay in power, which creates incentives for all constituents to falsify their preferences, which does not allow for the dictator to know the genuine popular beliefs or his realistic measure of societal support. Rwanda - 1994 to present - Paul Kagame. [108], Dictatorship in Europe largely ended after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the liberalization of most communist states. From the outside looking in, life within a dictatorship appears akin to being in a toxic relationship or living situation. Political culture: 5.00. Like most dictators, they also often employ secret police and violence to silence critics. Military dictatorship: 2. As of early 2022, the countries of Afghanistan, Eritrea, North Korea, and Turkmenistan are the only nations in the world whose governments are generally considered to be totalitarian dictatorships. Here are fifteen of the worst dictators from the 20 th century and what makes them stand out for censure. [149] Military and one-party dictatorships are more likely to experience terrorism than personalist dictatorships, as these regimes are under more pressure to undergo institutional change in response to terrorism.[150]. North Korea is one of the clearest examples of a totalitarian government. Repression can encompass actual or threatened physical violence such as arrests, assassinations, torture, beatings, disappearances, mass killings, and forced exile. [1] Popularly elected means that the head of state is directly elected by the citizens or elected by an assembly which then elects them (an example being the electoral college in the United States). Dictatorships that fail to repress the opposition are susceptible to collapse through a coup or a revolution. In fact, most dictators adopt common appellations such as "President" or "Prime Minister", so they must be identified via their actions and policies rather than their title. [49] In an absolute monarchy, power is limited to the royal family, and legitimacy is established by historical factors. This instability in turn required rulers to become increasingly authoritarian to stay in power, further propagating dictatorship in Africa. He was also ranked 19th in Parade Magazine's Top 20 list of "The World's Worst Dictators". The legislature must be popularly elected. Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Costa Rica Cte d'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus 1. [107] Dictatorships are often recipients of foreign aid on the condition that they make advances toward democratization. Those who believe that he is a dictator argue that he imprisons his opponents, removed freedom of speechthe press can only publish what he allows them toand has restructured the government to give himself more and longer-lasting power. While Latin America, Asia, and Africa were already dictatorship countries, they differed from the dictatorships formed in what became known as the Eastern Bloc. Military dictatorships are controlled by military officers, one-party dictatorships are controlled by the leadership of a political party, and personalist dictatorships are controlled by a single individual. Obiang's regime is known for state-sanctioned kidnappings, torture of prisoners, and unlawful killings. In 1989, the Soviet Union was dissolved, and communism was abandoned by the countries of Central and Eastern Europe through a series of revolutions. Multiple political parties may exist, but one dominates the government, makes all the rules, is free to disseminate propaganda, and controls every aspect of every election (which may offer voters only a single candidate), thereby ensuring they win every time. [90] These new African governments were marked by severe instability, which provided opportunities for regime change and made fair elections a rare occurrence on the continent. Political participation: 2.22. [52], Dictatorship is historically associated with the Ancient Greek concept of tyranny, and several ancient Greek rulers have been described as "tyrants" that are comparable to modern dictators. [35][36] These dictatorships often emerge either from loosely organized seizures of power, giving the leader opportunity to consolidate power, or from democratically elected leaders in countries with weak institutions, giving the leader opportunity to change the constitution. [8]:456, The second distinction made is whether the head of state is popularly elected for a fixed term. The dictator maintains control by influencing and appeasing the inner circle while repressing any opposition, which may include rival political parties, armed resistance, or disloyal members of the inner circle. [71] The aftermath of World War I resulted in a major shift in European politics, establishing new governments, facilitating internal change in older governments, and redrawing the boundaries between countries, allowing opportunities for these movements to seize power. Its goal is to force compliance by demobilizing or annihilating actors of opposition. As of 2020, there are 52 nations with a dictator or authoritarian regime ruling the country: Three in Latin America and South America, 27 in Asia and the Middle East, and 22 in Africa. [1], The dictator exercises broad power over the government and society, but other individuals are necessary to carry out the dictator's rule. Hybrid dictatorships blend elements of the other four types. The head of state may be unelected and still be classified as a democracy. [136], Dictatorships are typically more aggressive than democracy when in conflict with other nations, as dictators do not have to fear electoral costs of war. [1]:68 The figures at the left show the results in 1988 and 2008. [1]:68. A presidential democracy has a government that does not need the majority support of a legislature to stay in power. ], Based on the regime binary classification idea proposed by Alvarez in 1996,[5] and the Democracy and Development (or DD measure, ACLP dataset) proposed by Przeworski et al. Among the 10 dictatorship countries profiled, poverty is endemic. Van den Bosch, Jeroen J. J., Personalist Rule in Africa and Other World Regions, (London-New York: Routledge, 2021): 13-16, wave of left-wing revolutionary movements, List of countries by system of government, "Review: Totalitarianism, Social Science, and the Margins", "Generals, Dictators, and Kings: Authoritarian Regimes and Civil Conflict, 19732004", "Elites, Single Parties and Political Decision-making in Fascist-era Dictatorships", "Theories of dictatorships: sub-types and explanations", "Personalization of Power and Repression in Dictatorships", "The Tyranny of Dictatorship: When the Greek Tyrant Met the Roman Dictator", "The Five Ancient Criteria of Democracy: The Apotheosis of Equality", "When was the title Dictator perpetuus given to Caesar? Nigeria - 1966 to 1975 - Yakubu Gowon. They are more likely to end in violence and less likely to democratize than other forms of dictatorship. Factions or divisions among the elites will mitigate their ability to bargain with the dictator, resulting in the dictator having more unrestrained power. Cinhil Aymeric Nygel Haldane, 22nd king of Gwynedd who shortly reigned in 1025. Dictators typically retain their power by silencing any opposition to their rulings and guidelines. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. One person holds all of the country's power. However, since they might also give up power willingly, the regime is marked with a type II value to signal potential classification errors where a democratic regime may be falsely classified as dictatorship. The 20th century also saw the rise of personalist dictatorships in Africa and military dictatorships in Latin America, both of which became prominent in the 1960s and 1970s. Today, they are "elected," as true democracies helplessly look on . Perhaps someday some of these modern dictatorships will cast off their dictators and embrace a more democratic and inclusive form of government. [126] In particular, censorship by dictatorships helps solidify claims of legitimacy and marginalize the voices of opposition critics. Kim Jong-Il (1.6 million deaths) Kim Jong-il in 2010. (2010), Cheibub, Gandhi, and Vreeland developed a six-fold regime classification scheme, resulting what the authors called as the DD datasets. [100] Josip Broz Tito declared a communist government in Yugoslavia during World War II, which was initially aligned with the Soviet Union. Right now, 74% families are homeowners. Syria - Well, it depends. List of Cons of Dictatorships. [13] After power is seized, the group must determine what positions its members will hold in the new government and how this government will operate, sometimes resulting in disagreements that split the group. [28] Due to the structure of their leadership, one-party dictatorships are significantly less likely to face civil conflict, insurgency, or terrorism than other forms of dictatorship. [3] Elites must also compete to wield more power than one another, but the amount of power held by elites also depends on their unity. [139], Most dictatorships hold elections to maintain legitimacy and stability, but these elections are typically uncompetitive and the opposition is not permitted to win. [124], The type of economy in a dictatorship can affect how it functions. But this is not the first time Myanmar is having the bitter taste of autocracy, in fact, their governance turned . Dictatorships in the Middle East and Northern Africa are either illiberal republics in which a president holds power through unfair elections, or they are absolute monarchies in which power is inherited. In addition to executive authority, Putin also holds judicial and legislative power, which enables him to change the law to fit his agenda. This may be ensured through incentives, such as distribution of financial resources or promises of security, or it may be through repression, in which failing to support the regime is punished. The number of countries ruled by military dictatorships began to fall sharply after the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. Democracy is broadly understood to mean 'rule by the people'. Elections also support the legitimacy of a dictatorship by presenting the image of a democracy, establishing plausible deniability of its status as a dictatorship for both the populace and foreign governments. Below are the world's most authoritarian regimes: 21. Dictators are incentivized to avoid the use of violence once a reputation of violence is established, as it damages the dictatorship's other institutions and poses a threat to the dictator's rule should government forces become disloyal. The type of dictatorship a country is ruled by typically comes down to the methods the dictator used to obtain power and how they go about maintaining it. The dictatorship of Francisco Franco in Spain , from 1939 to 1975. (2010), and further developed and maintained by Cheibub, Gandhi, and Vreeland (2009). Stability can be weakened when opposition groups grow and unify or when elites are not loyal to the regime. In personalist dictatorships, the elite corps are usually made up of close friends or family members of the dictator, who typically handpicks these individuals to serve their posts. This page was last edited on 26 February 2023, at 12:26. The group may be military or political, it may be organized or disorganized, and it may disproportionately represent a certain demographic. Its territory covers 652,000 km, making it the 41st largest country in the world. Marxist one-party states are sometimes distinguished from other one-party states, but they function similarly. But for today, these are the world's dictatorships. [14], Unless they have undertaken a self-coup, those seizing power typically have little governmental experience and do not have a detailed policy plan in advance. This article focuses on the five communist countries that are still adherent to Marxism-Leninism. Single-party dictatorships were most common during the Cold War, with dominant-party dictatorships becoming more common after the fall of the Soviet Union. During the first half of the 20th century, dictatorships took control of a number of technologically advanced countries. Far-left and far-right dictatorships used similar methods to maintain power, including cult of personality, concentration camps, forced labour, mass murder, and genocide. Dictatorships have arisen throughout history, usually in times of crisis. [5] This is particularly true when the inner circle is made up of military officers that have the resources to carry out a military coup. The Portuguese were present in some mostly coastal points of the territory of what is now Angola from the 16th century, interacting in diverse ways with the peoples who lived there. Many of these governments fell under the control of caudillos, or personalist dictators. Secondly, while the term "dictatorship" is widely understood to include inherent abuse of powerthere is arguably no such thing as a benevolent dictatorhistory offers several examples of autocrats who tried to do what was best for their people. During his reign of terror, about 30,000 Haitians are estimated to have been assassinated, while thousands - mostly intelligence fled the country. Many personalist regimes will install open ballots to protect their regimes and implement heavy security measures and censorship for those whose personal preferences do not align with the values of the leader. They are often unstable, and the average duration of a military dictatorship is only five years, but they are often followed by additional military coups and military dictatorships. Uganda - 1971 to 1979 - Idi Amin Dada. [62][63][64] Maximilien Robespierre has been similarly described as a dictator while he controlled the National Convention in France and carried out the Reign of Terror in 1793 and 1794. Abstract. While autocratic countries are not always malevolent, they often still encounter resistance from citizens who would prefer to have a greater say in the government's policy-making process. One of the reasons for this is the fact that the military often has more cohesion and institutional structure than most of the civilian institutions of society. In Germany, the head of state is elected by regional legislatures and not popularly elected. His economic plans have been praised by leaders like Kemal Pasha. Dictatorships suffer from an obvious and significant imbalance of power. As the Cold War went on, the Soviet Union increased its influence in Africa, and MarxistLeninist dictatorships developed in several African countries. The dictator is the absolute ruler. But for today, these are the world's dictatorships. Examples might include King Cyrus the Great of Persia, who is thought to have created the first declaration of human rights, the Biblical King Solomon, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yue. Given the degree of censorship and control China's government leverages over its citizens, most political experts would call it a dictatorship. First is that an autocracy nearly always focuses power in a single individual person, whereas dictatorshipssingle-party dictatorships in particularsometimes spread the power throughout a small group of people (say, the leaders of the dictator's political party). [10] Political scientist Juan Jos Linz identifies a spectrum of political systems with democracies and totalitarian regimes separated by authoritarian regimes with varied classifications of hybrid systems. Imelda Marcos was the wife of Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled over the . * Venezuela - Nicolas Maduro * Mauritania - Mohamed Ould Abdulaziz * Algeria - Abdelaziz Bouteflika * Tunisia - Beji Caid Essebesi * Chad - Idriss Deby * Sudan - Omar al-Bashir * Cameroon - Paul Biy. Bettmann Archive / Getty Images. Korea experienced military dictatorships under the rule of Yeon Gaesomun in the 7th century[58] and under the rule of the Goryeo military regime in the 12th and 13th centuries. Like right-wing, it is not a copyrighted term. [50] Monarchies allow for strict rules of succession that produce a peaceful transfer of power on the monarch's death, but this can also result in succession disputes if multiple members of the royal family claim a right to succeed. [126] Four strategies of political control commonly employed by dictatorships are repression, indoctrination, coercive distribution, and infiltration. The territory of today's Algeria was the home of many prehistoric cultures, including Aterian and Capsian and the, Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country in Southern Africa. This world dictators list has everyone from Adolf Hitler to Kim Jong Un to many lesser-known rulers. If the head of state is popularly elected for a fixed term then, the democracy is mixed or semi-presidential. [82], Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party created a second fascist dictatorship in Germany in 1933,[83] obtaining absolute power through a combination of electoral victory, violence, and emergency powers. More complex economies require additional cooperation between the dictator and other groups. Current Heads of State & Dictators - Planet Rulers, President Faustin Archange Touadera of the, President Flix Tshilombo Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, President Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of the Congo, President Teodoro Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, President Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman Burhan of. He responded by ordering the confiscation of food, impossible farming yield quotas, banning private farming for substenance, and introducing internal passports and residency permits, which prevented villagers from seeking food elsewhere. United Arab Emirates 2.69/10. Other factors associated with military coups include extensive natural resources, limited use of the military internationally, and use of the military as an oppressive force domestically. Miguel Daz-Canel, the son of Ral Castro who replaced him as president of Cuba, has kept the dictatorship structure in place that was established by Fidel Castro during the Cuban revolution. Those against dictatorship say personal rights are severely restricted, the system is generally based on force and violence, and it demands complete obedience. The expected result is to coerce citizens into complying with the dictatorships demands in order to benefit from the state-controlled resources. He took control of the nation in 1973 after leading a coup that deposed elected leftist leader Salvador Allende.