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Dictator

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In modern usage, Dictator refers to an absolutist or autocratic ruler who governs outside the normal an related to evilness towards his citizens, cnstututional rule of law. However unlike the Roman original, they rarely use it as a title, for it is generally used by their opponents as a term of abuse for totalitarian rule, just like despot and tyrant (also unlike the originals in Antiquity). Yet in several modern republican states, the title has been used officially, usually as an 'extraordinary' officer, e.g. revolutionary or to cope with a grave national emergency, generally combing the capacities of Head of state (formal highest rank and supreme command) and Head of government (day to day political power).

Dictators often acquire power in a coup d'état, or by suspending the existing constitution. Ordinarily democratic nations may temporarily give dictatorial power to leaders during a state of emergency. The term is normally not applied to absolute monarchs although they generally have the powers of a dictator.

States without democratic institutions are often ruled by a series of dictators, taking power from each other in coups or civil wars. Latin American and African nations have undergone many dictatorships, usually by military leaders at the head of a junta. In states with democratic traditions, dictators frequently emerge in times of war, or during an economic or social crisis. Most notably, Benito Mussolini in Italy and Adolf Hitler in Germany, achieved office by democratic means and once in power gradually eroded constitutional restraints. Under Joseph Stalin, the concentration of power in the Communist Party in the Soviet Union developed into a personal dictatorship, but after his death there emerged a system of collective leadership.

Classical Rome

"Dictator" was the title of the highest chief magistrate in ancient Rome, the only one without a colleague, appointed by the Senate to rule the state in times of emergency. Roman dictators were usually experienced generals and politicians, were invested with sweeping authority over the citizens, but they were originally limited to a term of six months and lacked power over the public finances. Lucius Cornelius Sulla and Julius Caesar, however, abolished these limitations and governed without these constraints. The Romans abandoned the institution of dictatorship after Caesar's murder, when Augustus quietly consolidated similar powers as Princeps civitatis, imprecisely known as emperor.

In the system of Roman Republic, a dictator rei gerendae causa was an extraordinary magistrate (without a colleague) temporarily granted significant power over the state during times of great threat to the state, as in a defensive war. The office was usually held for only 6 months or a military campaign. The ideal model was Cincinnatus, who according to legend, was plowing when called to dictatorship, saved Rome from invasion, and who afterwards returned to his labour, renouncing every honour and power, after only 3 months. Other famous dictatores were Lucius Sulla and Julius Caesar. See Roman dictator and compare with the Greek tyrannos and the later imperator.

Besides such ruling dictators there also was a symbolic practice of very short senatorial mandate for a religious act considered to sacred to performed by any lesser magistrate

Modern titles

23 March 1897 - 16 December 1897, Emilio Aguinaldo y Famy (b. 1869 - d. 1964), also chairman of the Revolutionary Government to 1 November 1897, was styled Dictator 12 June 1898 - 23 January 1899 (he was also chairman Revolutionary Government from 23 June 1898), next was the first of two Presidents 23 January 1899 - 1 April 1901

Pejorative use

File:Great dictator 1024.jpg
Charlie Chaplin in The Great Dictator, a satire of dictatorship regimes.

In modern usage, the term "dictator" is generally used to describe a leader who holds an extraordinary amount of personal power, especially the power to make laws without effective restraint by a legislative assembly. It is comparable to (but not synonymous with) the ancient concept of a tyrant, although initially "tyrant," like "dictator," was not a negative term. A wide variety of leaders coming to power in a number of different kinds of regimes, such as military juntas, single-party states, and civilian governments under personal rule, have been described as dictators.

In popular usage in most of the world, "dictatorship" is often associated with brutality and oppression. As a result, it is often also used as a term of abuse for political opponents; Henry Clay's dominance of the U.S. Congress as Speaker of the House and as a member of the United States Senate led to his nickname "the Dictator." The term has also come to be associated with megalomania. Many dictators create a cult of personality and have come to favor increasingly grandiloquent titles and honours for themselves. For example, Idi Amin Dada, who had been a British army lieutenant prior to Uganda's independence from Britain in October 1962, subsequently styled himself as "His Excellency President for Life Field Marshal Al Hadji Dr. Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, King of Scotland Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular." In The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin satirized not only Hitler but the institution of dictatorship itself.

The association between the dictator and the military is a very common one; many dictators take great pains to emphasize their connections with the military and often wear military uniforms. In some cases, this is perfectly natural; Francisco Franco was a lieutenant general in the Spanish Army before he became Chief of State of Spain, and Noriega was officially commander of the Panamanian Defense Forces. In other cases, this is mere pretense.

The "benevolent dictator"

The benevolent dictator is a more modern version of the classical "enlightened despot," being an absolute ruler who exercises his or her political power for the benefit of the people rather than exclusively for his or her own benefit. Like many political classifications, this term suffers from its inherent subjectivity. Such leaders as Franco, Rosas, Rojas Pinilla, Sadat, Tito, and Omar Torrijos have been characterized by their supporters as benevolent dictators.

In the Spanish language, the word dictablanda is sometimes used for a dictatorship conserving some of the liberties and mechanisms of democracy. (The pun is that, in Spanish, dictadura is "dictatorship," dura is "hard" and blanda is "soft"). Some examples include Chile under Pinochet, or Yugoslavia under Tito. This contrasts with democradura (literally "hard democracy"), which is defined as a full formal democracy alongside limitations on constitutional freedoms and human rights abuses, frequently within the context of a civil conflict or the existence of an insurgency. Governments in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico and Venezuela have at various times been considered "democradura" regimes by different critics and opposition groups, not necessarily with an academic or political consensus about the application of the term.

Dictators in game theory

In game theory and social choice theory, the notion of a dictator is formally defined as a person that can achieve any feasible social outcome he/she wishes. The formal definition yields an interesting distinction between two different types of dictators.

  • The strong dictator has, for any social goal he/she has in mind (e.g. raise taxes, having someone killed, etc.), a definite way of achieving that goal. This can be seen as having explicit absolute power, like Franco in Spain.
  • The weak dictator has, for any social goal he/she has in mind, and for any political scenario, a course of action that would bring about the desired goal. For the weak dictator, it is usually not enough to "give her orders", rather he/she has to manipulate the political scene appropriately. This means that the weak dictator might actually be lurking in the shadows, working within a political setup that seems to be non-dictatorial. An example of such a figure is Lorenzo the Magnificent, who controlled Renaissance Florence.

Note that these definitions disregard some alleged dictators, e.g. Benito Mussolini, who are not interested in the actual achieving of social goals, as much as in propaganda and controlling public opinion. Monarchs and military dictators are also excluded from these definitions, because their rule relies on the consent of other political powers (the barons or the army).

See also

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