Dictatorship

“	You walk into this room at your own risk, because it leads to the future. Not a future that will be but one that might be. This is not a new world; it is simply an extension of what began in the old one. It has patterned itself after every dictator who has ever planted the ripping imprint of a boot on the pages of history since the beginning of time. It has refinements, technological advances, and a more sophisticated approach to the destruction of human freedom. But like every one of the super-states that preceded it, it has one iron rule: logic is an enemy and truth is a menace.	„
	~ The Twilight Zone, "The Obsolete Man"

A dictatorship is a form of government that centers power in a single organ, party or in the hands of just one person that gets called "dictator".

Types

Authoritarianism

Summary

Authoritarianism is when a state in which sovereignty is exercised by a hegemonic party or a dictator.

Features

• It abolishes the rule of law of the principles of legality, thus it violates the freedoms of the human being and acts as a force above the law.
• It limitates the fundamental individual rights: personal freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
• It represses any form of dissent with the prohibition of setting up private associations or organizations, other than those expressly authorized, and the creation of a single party.
• It suppress the trade union freedom.
• It replaces the elected bodies, with bodies nominated by the government.
• It creates a rigid hierarchical system.

File:Totalitarists.png

The three major exponents of a totalitarian dictatorship: Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Stalin.

Totalitarianism

Summary

Totalitarianism is a type of dictatorship similar to authoritarianism, but it also expands its control in the life of the single individual.

Features

• It concentrates power on an immovable and politically irresponsible oligarchy.
• It imposes an official ideology, such as fascism or communism.
• It has a single mass party in power.
• It controls the forces operating in the state and uses terror.
• It has complete control of communication and information.
• It uses propaganda to plagiarize the mind of the people into thinking their ideology.

File:Militaristi.png

The three major exponents of a military dictatorship: Muʿammar Gheddafi, Gamal Abd el-Nasser, and Idi Amin Dada.

Military dictatorship

Summary

A military dictatorship is an authoritarian form of government in which political power is held by the military.

Features

• It is guided by collegiate body.
• The head of state can be a senior officer or supreme commander of the armed forces.
• The dictator pushes a cult of personality to become the emblem of the nation.
• It starts after coup d'etat.
• Very often it has the characteristics of an autocracy.
• It often abandons power only under the pressure of an already ongoing or imminent popular uprising.
• It justifies itself with excuse of protecting the country from dangerous ideologies.
• It applies martial laws.
• It strives to portray civilian politicians as "corrupt" and "incompetent".