Its goal is to force compliance by demobilizing or annihilating actors of opposition. Among Africans past and present, you'll find a smattering of dictatorships. [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. [78], At the same time, nationalist movements grew throughout Europe. For example, DD could classify a country which has a legislative assembly whose official name is "the parliament" but still classify it in any of the three categories. Secret police are used to gather information about specific political opponents and carry out targeted acts of violence against them, paramilitary forces defend the regime from coups, and formal militaries defend the dictatorship during foreign invasions and major civil conflicts. [11][12] He describes totalitarian regimes as exercising control over politics and political mobilization rather than merely suppressing it. [142] Dictatorships may influence the results of an election through electoral fraud, intimidation or bribing of candidates and voters, use of state resources such as media control, manipulation of electoral laws, restricting who may run as a candidate, or disenfranchising demographics that may oppose the dictatorship. Democracy-Dictatorship (DD),[1] index of democracy and dictatorship[2] or simply the DD index[3] or the DD datasets was the binary measure of democracy and dictatorship first proposed by Adam Przeworski et al. [1] The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator.Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by the dictator and facilitated through an inner circle of elites that include advisers, generals, and other high-ranking officials. Perhaps someday some of these modern dictatorships will cast off their dictators and embrace a more democratic and inclusive form of government. China - Communist Regime 4. Today, they are "elected," as true democracies helplessly look on . They are often characterized by their use of violence and repression to maintain power. Far-left and far-right dictatorships used similar methods to maintain power, including cult of personality, concentration camps, forced labour, mass murder, and genocide. A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. They are in civil war, but the dictator is. In the United Kingdom, for example, the chief executive is the prime minister, and the ministers are the heads of the executive departments, which together compose the government. Various forms of dictatorship have been a context in which social and behavioral sciences (SBS) have been developing through most of the twentieth century. [24], Military dictatorships often have traits in common due to the shared background of military dictators. [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. 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. [38] Due to the lack of accountability and the smaller group of elites, personalist dictatorships are more prone to corruption than other forms of dictatorship,[39] and they are more repressive than other forms of dictatorship. One of its most notable examples was Holodomor, where Joseph Stalin blamed the shortages of grain on "enemies of the state" who hoarded it. Dictatorship Countries And Their Leaders | Countries Ruled by Dictators | 2019 Rankings On Time 1.62K subscribers 95K views 3 years ago Dictatorship Countries And Their Leaders | Countries Ruled. Adolf Hitler - WORST DICTATOR. Several dictatorships have persisted into the 21st century, particularly in Africa and Asia. The premise of the "people's democratic dictatorship" is that the Chinese Party of China and the state represent and act on behalf of the people, but possess and may use powers against reactionary forces. The totalitarian dictatorship of Adolf Hitler in Germany , from 1933 to 1945. [9] Political philosopher Hannah Arendt describes totalitarianism as a new and extreme form of dictatorship composed of "atomized, isolated individuals" in which ideology plays a leading role in defining how the entire society should be organized. [98] Several Middle Eastern countries were the subject of military coups in the 1950s and 1960s, including Iraq, Syria, North Yemen, and South Yemen. Dictatorships frequently hold elections in order to establish their legitimacy or provide incentives to members of the ruling party, but these elections are not competitive for the opposition. Dictatorships have arisen throughout history, usually in times of crisis. Answer (1 of 9): Depends on what you mean by left-wing. The DD dataset covers the annual data points of 199 countries from 1946 (or date of independence) to 2008. Some countries, such as Sweden, instead charge another person entirely with choosing the head of government, such as the presiding officer of the legislative assembly. A dictator that has concentrated significant power is more likely to be exiled, imprisoned, or killed after ouster, and accordingly they are more likely to refuse negotiation and cling to power. It has a population of approximately 31 million people, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It was initially aligned with Yugoslavia, but its alignment shifted throughout the Cold War between Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, and China. It is the seventh largest country in Africa, and is bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean and Luanda is its capital city. Personalistic dictatorships: 4. 10. The earliest military dictatorships developed in the post-classical era, particularly in Shogun-era Japan and in England under Cromwell. Imelda Marcos. The table below offers a full list of which countries are what type of democracy. [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. [27] One-party rule also developed in several countries in Africa during decolonization in the 1960s and 1970s, some of which produced authoritarian regimes. Due to it, the countries went towards dictatorship. But for today, these are the world's dictatorships. The list of Dictatorship countries in Africa includes Nigeria and Zaire. That said, there are two important differences between dictatorships and autocracies. Exceptions to the pattern of poverty in dictatorships include oil-rich Middle Eastern dictatorships and the East Asian Tigers during their periods of dictatorship. 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. Members of the group will typically make up the elites in a dictator's inner circle at the beginning of a new dictatorship, though the dictator may remove them as a means to gain additional power. ", "Dictators and Their Followers: A Theory of Dictatorship", "The many Robespierres from 1794 to the present", "A Family of Political Concepts: Tyranny, Despotism, Bonapartism, Caesarism, Dictatorship, 1750-1917", "The Age of the Caudillos: A Chapter in Hispanic American History", "Europe Will be a Fascist Europe: July 1934May 1936", "African military coups d'tat, 19562001: frequency, trends and distribution", "From Protest to Change of Regime: The 419 Revolt and The Fall of the Rhee Regime in South Korea*", "The waning of the military coup in Arab politics", "Introduction: Studying Communist Dictatorships: From Comparative to Transnational History", "Military Coups and Military Rule in Latin America", "Cuba: The United States and Batista, 1952-58", "The Predicament of Europe's 'Last Dictator', "The Kremlin Emboldened: How Putin Wins Support", "The Resistible Rise of Vladimir Putin: Russia's Nightmare Dressed Like a Daydream", "Biden suggests Putin is a 'dictator' who has committed 'genocide half a world away', "EIU Democracy Index 2020 - World Democracy Report", "5. The leaders of dictatorships are not outwardly identified as dictators when other people are addressing them. 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. These movements supported pan-Arab Nasserism during most of the Cold War, but they were largely replaced by Islamic nationalism by the 1980s. Although it is true that some dictators are far more strict and overbearing than others, as a rule, dictatorships tend to result in a loss of personal autonomy, quality of life, and political choice for everyday citizens. Dictatorships suffer from an obvious and significant imbalance of power. [45] Although, when it comes to polling and elections a dictator could use his power to override private preferences. Kim Jong-Il (1.6 million deaths) Kim Jong-il in 2010. Many are noted for their cruelty, while others are honored as national heroes. Nearly half of dictatorships start as a military coup, though others have been started by foreign intervention, elected officials ending competitive elections, insurgent takeovers, popular uprisings by citizens, or legal maneuvering by autocratic elites to take power within their government. [98], One of the tasks in political science is to measure and classify regimes as either democracies or dictatorship (authoritarian) countries. This list answers the questions, "What countries are dictatorships?" The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Political culture: 5.00. (2010), Cheibub, Gandhi, and Vreeland developed a six-fold regime classification scheme, resulting what the authors called as the DD datasets. The economic focus of a dictatorship often depends on the strength of the opposition, as a weaker opposition allows a dictator to extract additional wealth from the economy through corruption.[125]. The Modern World's Dictatorship Countries African Dictators A Global View of Dictators Is China a dictatorship? [135] Negotiated removals are more likely to end in democracy, while removals by force are more likely to result in a new dictatorial regime. He assumed office in August 1979 and has remained in power since then. The Five Kinds of Dictatorship 1. [1]:68. Dominant-party dictatorships or electoral authoritarian dictatorships are one-party dictatorships in which opposition parties are nominally legal but cannot meaningfully influence government. 8. [57] The rule of a dictator was not necessarily considered tyrannical in Ancient Rome, though it has been described in some accounts as a "temporary tyranny" or an "elective tyranny". Argentina and Mexico are the countries with Dictatorship as a government form. This may sound like a contradiction of terms to many people. Click to visit dictatorship | Definition, Characteristics, Countries More complex economies require additional cooperation between the dictator and other groups. [105] To maintain power, Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet organized Operation Condor with other South American dictators to facilitate cooperation between their respective intelligence agencies and secret police organizations. [17] Between 1946 and 2010, 42% of dictatorships began by overthrowing a different dictatorship, and 26% began after achieving independence from a foreign government. [87], The decolonisation of Africa prompted the creation of new governments, many of which became dictatorships in the 1960s and 1970s. Military dictatorships are more prone to conflict due to the inherent military strength associated with such a regime, and personalist dictatorships are more prone to conflict due to the weaker institutions to check the dictator's power. " 1. Adolf Hitler known for his Nazi party and the barbarities and fierceness during his autocracy rule. [73], Dictatorships in Latin America persisted into the 20th century, and further military coups established new regimes, often in the name of nationalism. Latin America experienced a dramatic political change in the last quarter of the twentieth century. [8]:455 Some countries (such as Spain, Belgium, Germany, and Israel) require that the vote of no confidence also specify who is going to replace the sitting government to minimize the time without an interim government, essentially replacing one government with another. Teodoro Obiang Nguesma Mbasogo overthrew his uncle Macias in 1979 in a bloody coup. Democracies can be either parliamentary, semi-presidential, or presidential and dictatorships can be civilian, military, or royal. He was a German legislator, organizer of Nazi party and furthermore filled in as Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945. [27], One-party dictatorships are more stable than other forms of authoritarian rule, as they are less susceptible to insurgency and see higher economic growth. Dictatorships are authoritarian or totalitarian and can be classified as military dictatorships, one-party dictatorships, personalist dictatorships, or absolute monarchies. Obiang's regime is known for state-sanctioned kidnappings, torture of prisoners, and unlawful killings. What countries are currently ruled by dictatorships? REUTERS/Myo Kyaw Soe. United Arab Emirates 2.69/10. Reading Time: 4 minutes. As the Cold War went on, the Soviet Union increased its influence in Africa, and MarxistLeninist dictatorships developed in several African countries. 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. The deadliest dictatorships are discussed below. [64][65][66], Dictatorship developed as a major form of government in the 19th century, though the concept was not universally seen pejoratively at the time, with both a tyrannical concept and a quasi-constitutional concept of dictatorship understood to exist. Cuba - Dictatorship 5. Infamous dictators of the world are often thought of as tyrants - leaders who rule with iron fists, cruelty, unflinching authority, and a lack of opposition. 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. 1 Norway 2 Iceland 3 Sweden 4 New Zealand 5 Denmark =6 Canada =6 Ireland 8 Australia =9 Switzerland =9 Finland [22], Military dictatorships are typically formed by a military coup in which senior officers use the military to overthrow the government. Many of these governments fell under the control of caudillos, or personalist dictators. The Freedom in the World report evaluates the state of freedom in 195 countries and 14 territories, assigning a score between 0 and 4 in a series of 25 indicators to give a final score of 100. The exclave province of Cabinda has borders with the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. 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. [139], Most dictatorships hold elections to maintain legitimacy and stability, but these elections are typically uncompetitive and the opposition is not permitted to win. [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. [80] Italian dictator Benito Mussolini seized power in 1922, and began implementing reforms in 1925 to create the first fascist dictatorship. "[6], For a regime to be considered as a democracy by the DD scheme, it must meet the requirement of four rules below:[1]:69[3], Some regimes may meet the first three rules, but lack an alternation in power in its historical past; these regimes are classified as dictatorships because of cases where the incumbent only allows elections as long as they keep winning, and would refuse to step down if they lost. [92] Deng Xiaoping took power as the de facto leader of China after Mao's death and implemented reforms to restore stability following the Cultural Revolution and reestablish free market economics. This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 02:19. Explore a few of the famous ones. In the last six years alone, at least 26 African countries have experienced transfers of power. - Quora Answer (1 of 66): I will give the country names as well as who the dictator is. But for today, these are the world's dictatorships. Those against dictatorship say personal rights are severely restricted, the system is generally based on force and violence, and it demands complete obedience. This is a list of countries, nations, and states governed or ruled by a dictatorship, is sorted alphabetically and contains some information about each nation, such as the capital, and even the official language or currency of the country. Coercive distribution comprises of distributing welfare and state resources to control citizens and elites. The leader may be supported by a party or military, but still retains the overwhelming majority of power, especially regarding whom to place in which governmental roles, and relies heavily upon their own charisma to maintain control. [98], During World War II, many countries of Central and Eastern Europe had been occupied by the Soviet Union. 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. [108], Dictatorship in Europe largely ended after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the liberalization of most communist states. [128]. Typically, dictators rise to power when a nation faces significant social issues, such as strong economic crises or unrest among the nation's people. [31], Personalist dictatorships are regimes in which all power lies in the hands of a single individual. These nationalist movements supported non-alignment, keeping most Middle Eastern dictatorships out of the American and Soviet spheres of influence. Elections allow a dictatorship to exercise some control over the opposition by setting the terms under which the opposition challenges the regime. [116] Dictatorships in the Middle East are primarily guided by Islamic nationalism. The Soviet economy became unsustainable, and communist governments lost the support of intellectuals. [41], Personalist dictatorships fit the exact classic stereotype of authoritarian rule. [72] The societal upheaval caused by World War I and the unstable peace it produced further contributed to instability that benefited extremist movements and rallied support for their causes. [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. [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. A presidential democracy has a government that does not need the majority support of a legislature to stay in power. ", "The Cromwellian Protectorate: A Military Dictatorship? Uganda - 1971 to 1979 - Idi Amin Dada. [42] Within a personalist regime an issue called "The dictators dilemma" arises. 5. Single-party dictatorships were most common during the Cold War, with dominant-party dictatorships becoming more common after the fall of the Soviet Union. This is thanks to an oil boom that enriched his family at the expense of the Equatorial Guinea citizens. [69], In the time between World War I and World War II, several dictatorships were established in Europe through coups which were carried out by far-left and far-right movements. [1]:71. Poverty has a destabilizing effect on government, causing democracy to fail and regimes to fall more often. [99] A 1953 coup overseen by the American and British governments restored Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as the absolute monarch of Iran, who in turn was overthrown during the Iranian Revolution of 1979 that established Ruhollah Khomeini as the Supreme Leader of Iran under an Islamist government. His economic plans have been praised by leaders like Kemal Pasha. Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) Joseph Stalin (1878-1953) Pol Pot (1925-1998) Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945) Saddam Hussein (1937-2006) Idi Amin (1952-2003) Is Venezuela a dictatorship? Dictatorships can be formed by a military coup that overthrows the previous government through force or by a self-coup in which elected leaders make their rule permanent. [25], One-party dictatorships are governments in which a single political party dominates politics. [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. Infiltration involves disseminating individuals loyal to the dictatorship and its ideals across civil society and local community elites. Since 1945 Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East have been common areas for all military dictatorships. Like the two individuals above, Imelda Marcos gained her power through being the wife of a military dictator. Africa has several long-standing dictators despite the fact that the continent as a whole is quite volatile politically. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by the dictator and facilitated through an inner circle of elites that include advisers, generals, and other high-ranking officials. [141] Should a dictatorship fail, elections also permit dictators and elites to accept defeat without fearing violent recourse.