Dictatorship
A dictatorship is a political system of government in which a single person (the dictator) or collective committee (politburo) has absolute power, because no legal process exists by which the leadership can be removed from office against their will.
Many ancient non-monarchial systems were effectively dictatorships, often under wartime conditions, although the term is usually used only in the modern context, where democracy exists as an alternative.
An historical context
The Greek philosopher Socrates approves the Philosopher-King as an improvement over democracy in Plato's influential book The Republic. Solomon of Israel and Li Quan Yew of Singapore are examples of blessed dictators in the ancient world and modern world respective[1] The difference between dictatorship and democracy, [President Herbert] Hoover liked to say, was simple: dictators organize from the top down, democracies from the bottom up.[2]
Examples of bad dictators
- China
- North Korea
- The former Soviet Union under Stalin and Lenin
- Nazi Germany
- Communist Romania
- Cuba
- Zimbabwe
- Cambodia under Pol Pot
- Hosni Mubarak of Egypt
Dictatorship in Fiction
Most often for dystopian or bleak futures, dictatorships are the governing systems, such as in Ayn Rand's Anthem and Atlas Shrugged, George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.
Quotes
- Ronald Reagan famously said, "The ten most dangerous words in the English language are "Hi, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
- Among conservatives, libertarians and anarchists, "The State" referred to in "Statism" is big government that derives its power through coercion via the threat of violence. According to conservative libertarian pundit Stefan Molyneux, "The idea that The State is capable of solving social problems is now viewed with great skepticism - which foretells a coming change. As soon as skepticism is applied to the State, the State falls, since it fails at everything except increasing its power, and so can only survive on propaganda, which relies on unquestioning faith."[3]