Imelda Marcos. Venezuela has a presidential government. To enact policy, a dictator must either appease the regime's elites or attempt to replace them. REUTERS/Myo Kyaw Soe. If you're looking for the names of countries with dictatorship governments then you're in the right place. They are ruled by one-party or military dictatorships, religious hierarchies, or autocrats. * Venezuela - Nicolas Maduro * Mauritania - Mohamed Ould Abdulaziz * Algeria - Abdelaziz Bouteflika * Tunisia - Beji Caid Essebesi * Chad - Idriss Deby * Sudan - Omar al-Bashir * Cameroon - Paul Biy. Photo: Lars Klove. [60] During the L dynasty of Vietnam between the 16th and 18th centuries, the country was under de facto military rule by two rival military families: the Trnh lords in the north and the Nguyn lords in the south. When necessary, a dictator may also make an effort to replace or amend the nation's constitution to empower, enrich, or otherwise benefit the dictator and his/her allies to a greater degree. [8]:456, The second distinction made is whether the head of state is popularly elected for a fixed term. 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. Though the most recent data set is only updated for 2008, there is planning by Cheibub to update it to the . [104] A one-party communist dictatorship was formed in Cuba when a US-backed dictatorship was overthrown in the Cuban Revolution, creating the only Soviet-backed dictatorship in the western hemisphere. Deadliest Dictator Regimes in History Maoist Catastrophe Between 1946 and 1976, China suffered under the rule of Mao Zedong, a communist revolutionary who founded the People's Republic of China. The first distinction made is whether a democracy's government is responsible to the legislature. Today, there are only five communist states, some of which are struggling to hold on to communism. Political culture: 5.00. Dictatorships suffer from an obvious and significant imbalance of power. 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. [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. [8]:455 Sometimes sitting governments will attach a vote of no confidence clause to a piece of legislation they want passed, effectively tying the survival of the government on the piece of legislation. [26], A dictatorship may fall because of a military coup, foreign intervention, negotiation, or popular revolution. 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. The number of countries ruled by military dictatorships began to fall sharply after the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. As you can see, fascism was at its highest popularity during the 1930's. 1. Like the two individuals above, Imelda Marcos gained her power through being the wife of a military dictator. Uganda - 1971 to 1979 - Idi Amin Dada. These countries maintain parliaments and human rights organizations, but these remain under the control of the countries' respective dictators. In practice, it is often defined as people choosing their leaders in free and fair elections. [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. [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. [17] Between 1946 and 2010, 42% of dictatorships began by overthrowing a different dictatorship, and 26% began after achieving independence from a foreign government. The dictator of Italy from 1925 to 1945, Benito Mussolini founded the Fascist Party in 1919. If it is, then a further distinction is made between democracies where the head of state is popularly elected and those where the head of state is not popularly elected. Its purpose is to collect information, mobilize society, and induce compliance with the dictatorships directives. 1. [8], Totalitarianism is a variation of dictatorship characterized by the presence of a single political party and more specifically, by a powerful leader who imposes personal and political prominence. [126] Some of the most ruthless examples of repression in recent history were repression by hunger. China's constitution calls its government a "people's democratic dictatorship." 10. Many of these governments fell under the control of caudillos, or personalist dictators. Ruling parties allow a dictatorship to more broadly influence the populace and facilitate political agreement between party elites. Single-party dictatorships are one-party states in which only the party in power is legalized and all opposition parties are banned. [107] The development of the internet and digital communication in the 21st century have prompted dictatorships to shift from traditional means of control to digital ones, including the use of artificial intelligence to analyze mass communications, internet censorship to restrict the flow of information, and troll farms to manipulate public opinion. 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. Perhaps someday some of these modern dictatorships will cast off their dictators and embrace a more democratic and inclusive form of government. He arose to power in Italy in 1922, following the so-called 'March on Rome', in which his . These movements were a response to what they perceived as decadence and societal decay due to the changing social norms and race relations brought about by liberalism. While Thailand remains the world's last active military dictatorship, other notable examples of modern countries with histories of military rule include: Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Greece. [139], Most dictatorships hold elections to maintain legitimacy and stability, but these elections are typically uncompetitive and the opposition is not permitted to win. He assumed office in August 1979 and has remained in power since then. Dominant-party dictatorships or electoral authoritarian dictatorships are one-party dictatorships in which opposition parties are nominally legal but cannot meaningfully influence government. 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. [24], Military dictatorships often have traits in common due to the shared background of military dictators. Therefore, the entire country operates on the whims of that one person. He took control of the nation in 1973 after leading a coup that deposed elected leftist leader Salvador Allende. 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. Click to visit dictatorship | Definition, Characteristics, Countries Perhaps someday some of these modern dictatorships will cast off their dictators and embrace a more democratic and inclusive form of government. [76][77] The Russian Revolution inspired a wave of left-wing revolutionary movements in Europe between 1917 and 1923, but none saw the same level of success. Many countries today are still under a dictatorship, including: Cambodia China North Korea Russia And many more! 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. (Dictator of Italy and Principal Founder of Fascism Who Was Prime Minister of Italy from 1922 to 1943.) With a total area of 2,381,741 square kilometres, 90% of which is desert, Algeria is the tenth-largest country in the world, and the largest in Arab world and Africa and on the Mediterranean. [124], The type of economy in a dictatorship can affect how it functions. Below are the world's most authoritarian regimes: 21. 1. Below are 10 African country that are still under dictatorship. [114] The countries of Central Asia did not liberalize after the fall of the Soviet Union, instead forming as dictatorships led by former elites of the Communist Party and then later by successive dictators. These nationalist movements supported non-alignment, keeping most Middle Eastern dictatorships out of the American and Soviet spheres of influence. In some cases, nations may have multiple ruling bodies or government types, meaning they're not exclusively countries that are governed by dictatorships. Allowing the opposition to have representation in the regime, such as through a legislature, further reduces the likelihood of terrorist attacks in a dictatorship. Italy's Mussolini. [98], During World War II, many countries of Central and Eastern Europe had been occupied by the Soviet Union. [23] Military coups do not necessarily result in military dictatorships, as power may then be passed to an individual or the military may allow democratic elections to take place. 5. Monarchies may be dynastic, in which the royal family serves as a ruling institution similar to a political party in a one-party state, or they may be non-dynastic, in which the monarch rules independently of the royal family as a personalist dictator. 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. He was a German legislator, organizer of Nazi party and furthermore filled in as Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945. Some of the multi-party states with governing communist parties include Brazil, Nepal, India, and Russia. Too Much Power. 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. [31], Personalist dictatorships are regimes in which all power lies in the hands of a single individual. [25], One-party dictatorships are governments in which a single political party dominates politics. [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. During his reign of terror, about 30,000 Haitians are estimated to have been assassinated, while thousands - mostly intelligence fled the country. 2. [67] In Europe it was often thought of in terms of Bonapartism and Caesarism, with the former describing the military rule of Napoleon and the latter describing the imperial rule of Napoleon III in the vein of Julius Caesar. The military takes control of the country (usually through a direct coup), installs the dictator of its choosing (typically the highest-ranking military officer), and uses force of arms to preserve its power. Like right-wing, it is not a copyrighted term. Hybrid dictatorships are regimes that have a combination of these classifications. Here are fifteen of the worst dictators from the 20 th century and what makes them stand out for censure. Abstract. The table below offers a full list of which countries are what type of democracy. The government was described as a dictatorship of the proletariat in which power was exercised by soviets. The Soviet Union occupied nationalist dictatorships in the east and replaced them with communist dictatorships, while others established liberal democratic governments in the Western Bloc. 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. [8]:457 Elected heads of state are usually referred to as "president." Africa has several long-standing dictators despite the fact that the continent as a whole is quite volatile politically. Dictatorships have shallow levels of freedom. Modern dictatorships first developed in the 19th century, which included Bonapartism in Europe and caudillos in Latin America. Modern Dictatorship Countries. The 2010 version of Polity data series covers 189 countries from 1800 to 2009. Semi-competitive elections also have the effect of incentivizing members of the ruling party to provide better treatment of citizens so they will be chosen as party nominees due to their popularity. 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. Negative effects include the unraveling of social organizations and democratic institutions and the prohibition of other political parties. [18], A classification of dictatorships, which began with political scientist Barbara Geddes in 1999, focuses on where power lies. These dictators may view themselves as impartial in their oversight of a country due to their nonpartisan status, and they may view themselves as "guardians of the state". [48], An absolute monarchy is a monarchy in which the monarch rules without legal limitations. Totalitarianism is a form of autocracy in which the state has total control over its citizens. Adolf Hitler: 14 most cruel dictators Benito Mussolini: 14 most cruel dictators Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924): 14 most cruel dictators Joseph Stalin: 14 most cruel dictators Mao Zedong or Mao or Mao Tse Tung: 14 most cruel dictators Muammar Gaddafi: 14 most cruel dictators Idi Amin (1920-2003): 14 most cruel dictators [54][55] The concept of "dictator" was first developed during the Roman Republic. Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. Reading Time: 4 minutes. The Modern World's Dictatorship Countries African Dictators A Global View of Dictators Is China a dictatorship? Parliamentary democracy is the same as semi-presidential but has heads of state which are not popularly elected for a fixed term, typically either monarchs or officials not chosen by popular elections. That said, there are two important differences between dictatorships and autocracies. Changing Human Nature Needs a "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" . [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. "Tyrants, the World's 20 Worst Living Dictators", by David Wallechinsky, ranked Biya together with three others mainly in sub-Saharan Africa: Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, and King Mswati of Swaziland. What countries are currently ruled by dictatorships? [56] Caesar subverted the tradition of temporary dictatorships when he was made dictator perpetuo, or a dictator for life, which led to the creation of the Roman Empire. On average, they last twice as long as military dictatorships, but not as long as one-party dictatorships. When the war ended, these countries were incorporated into the Soviet sphere of influence, and the Soviet Union exercised control over their governments. Explore a few of the famous ones. [89] Military coups were also a common occurrence after decolonisation, with 14 African countries experiencing at least three successful military coups between 1959 and 2001. [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. Military dictatorship: 2. [59] Shoguns were de facto military dictators in Japan beginning in 1185 and continuing for over six hundred years. After the recent death of Idriss Deby in April 2021, his son Mahamat Deby took over. Cinhil Aymeric Nygel Haldane, 22nd king of Gwynedd who shortly reigned in 1025. [11][12] He describes totalitarian regimes as exercising control over politics and political mobilization rather than merely suppressing it. This does not indicate cases of semi-democracy or semi-dictatorship. This page was last edited on 4 March 2023, at 02:19. The head of state in most parliamentary democracies formally appoint the head of government. The role of dictator was created for instances when a single leader was needed to command and restore stability. The list of Dictatorship countries in Africa includes Nigeria and Zaire. Political scientists such as Juan Jos Linz and Samuel P. Huntington identify key attributes that define the power structure of a dictatorship, including a single leader or a small group of leaders, the exercise of power with few limitations, limited political pluralism, and limited mass mobilization. Keep note that the head of state, chief executive, government, and legislatures can have their official names be seemingly contradictory to this classification. A dictator has the ability to make decisions that will have an impact on the people in many ways, and the worse part is, the people do not consent to being ruled. [47] Personalist dictatorships also experience growth differently, as they often lack the institutions or qualified leadership to sustain an economy. Single-party dictatorships were most common during the Cold War, with dominant-party dictatorships becoming more common after the fall of the Soviet Union. An appropriate example of this occurred in 2020 when Russian president Vladimir Putin and his party introduced amendments to the country's constitution that reworked term limits, enabling Putin to remain in power until 2036. Some of the most famous dictators in history include, of course, Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Nazi Germany from 1933-1945, Benito Mussolini, ruler of fascist Italy from 1922-1945, and Joseph Stalin,. #SOSCuba. Those against dictatorship say personal rights are severely restricted, the system is generally based on force and violence, and it demands complete obedience. [81] These reforms incorporated totalitarianism, fealty to the state, expansionism, corporatism, and anti-communism. Kim Il-Sung The first leader of the North Korean dictatorship from 1948 until 1994, he established North Korea as a communist state. Since 1945 Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East have been common areas for all military dictatorships. However, many people in long-running dictatorships such as North Korea and Cameroon have never experienced anything else, so living in a dictatorship is much less jarring and shocking to them. Syria - Well, it depends. [16], Most dictatorships are formed through military means or through a political party. They are more likely to end in violence and less likely to democratize than other forms of dictatorship. [108], Dictatorship in Europe largely ended after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the liberalization of most communist states. [144] Since the end of the Cold War, more dictatorships have established "semi-competitive" elections in which opposition is allowed to participate in elections but is not allowed to win, with approximately two-thirds of dictatorships permitting opposition candidates in 2018. [126] For dictatorships, societal compliance is necessary for the ruling entity to maintain its desired order, laws, revenue, and policies. 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. [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. 1 Norway 2 Iceland 3 Sweden 4 New Zealand 5 Denmark =6 Canada =6 Ireland 8 Australia =9 Switzerland =9 Finland [61] In Europe, the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell, formed in 1649 after the Second English Civil War, has been described as a military dictatorship by its contemporary opponents and by some modern academics. The Countries with Dictatorships in the Modern World 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. If this institution can be effectively controlled by the dictator, it can become avaluable instruments of control over the population. On a similar note, a dictatorship's regular citizens have no voice in most matters. 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. Most of them are characterized by a single leader with either no party or one that is weak. The terms "autocrat" and "autocracy" are often used interchangeably with "dictator" and "dictatorship". But for today, these are the world's dictatorships. in Turkey, Kamal Pasha, established his dictatorship in 1921 and he remained in power till his death in 1938. Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, and Palestine are the only democratic nations in the region, with Israel being the only nation in this region that affords broad political liberties to its citizens. After authoritarian monarchies, these tend to be the longest-lasting dictatorships, as they can more easily install a new dictator if the existing one leaves office (rare) or dies. There are currently 22 dictators in Africa, some worse than others. There's no room for opposition or . [8]:457, The DD dataset is limited to 199 countries after 1946, whereas Boix, Miller, & Rosato, 2013 proposed a data set from 1800 to 2007, covering 219 countries. Dictators often employ illegal and/or immoral methods to maintain their power and control, including the use of secret police, indefinite arrests, and concentration camps. This instability in turn required rulers to become increasingly authoritarian to stay in power, further propagating dictatorship in Africa. As the dictatorship becomes more established, it moves away from violence by resorting to the use of other coercive measures, such as restricting people's access to information and tracking the political opposition. 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. [131] A military coup is often carried out when a regime is threatening the country's stability or during periods of societal unrest. [98], One of the tasks in political science is to measure and classify regimes as either democracies or dictatorship (authoritarian) countries. 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. Teodoro Obiang Nguesma Mbasogo overthrew his uncle Macias in 1979 in a bloody coup. [87] Populist movements were strengthened following the economic turmoil of the Great Depression, producing populist dictatorships in several Latin American countries. In the former, for example, the President must appoint as Prime Minister the leader of the largest party in parliament, who has three days to gain the confidence of a majority thereof. Despite repeated promises to leave office in 2024 (when his term limit is reached), Putin spearheaded a 2020 constitutional amendment enabling him to remain in power until 2036. 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. Therefore, it is impossible to know if the regime is a democracy or a dictatorship, so DD Index considers them dictatorships until an alternation in power occurs. A presidential democracy has a government that does not need the majority support of a legislature to stay in power. 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. [148], Institutions that coerce the opposition through the use of violence may serve different roles or they may be used to counterbalance one another in order to prevent one institution from becoming too powerful. [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. Examples include the Personalist/Military dictatorship of Pakistan from 1977 to 1988 and the Single-Party/Military hybrid that controlled El Salvador from 1948 to 1984. [1][3] Resorting to democratic concepts by Karl Popper and Joseph Schumpeter, Przeworski defended the minimalist approach, citing Popper that "the only system in which citizens can get rid of governments without bloodshed. [138] A study found that dictatorships that engage in oil drilling are more likely to remain in power, with 70.63% of the dictators who engage in oil drilling still being in power after 5 years of dictatorship, while only 59.92% of the non-oil producing dictators survive the first 5 years. The deadliest dictatorships are discussed below. Over the course of almost 20 years, he ruled Chile with an iron fist, ordering the deaths of thousands of suspected . The head of state may be unelected and still be classified as a democracy. [119][120][121][122], Most dictatorships exist in countries with high levels of poverty. In Germany, the head of state is elected by regional legislatures and not popularly elected.