Dictatorship

thumb|upright=1.05|Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy (left), and [[Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany (right), were notable fascist leaders.]]

A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader who holds absolute or near-absolute political power. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, and they are facilitated through an inner circle of elites that includes advisers, generals, and other high-ranking officials. The dictator maintains control by influencing and appeasing the inner circle and repressing any opposition, which may include rival political parties, armed resistance, or disloyal members of the dictator's inner circle. Dictatorships can be formed by a military coup that overthrows the p

thumb|upright=1.25|20th-century leaders typically described as dictators (from left to right and top to bottom): Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union; [[Adolf Hitler of Germany; Augusto Pinochet of Chile; Mao Zedong of China; Benito Mussolini of Italy; and Kim Il Sung of North Korea]] thumb|Saddam Hussein, the fifth president of Iraq, is typically described as a dictator. thumb|upright=0.9|Julius Caesar outmaneuvered his opponents in ancient Rome to install himself as dictator for life.

Autocracy is a form of government in which absolute power is held by one person, known as an autocrat. It includes both absolute monarchies and dictatorships, while it is contrasted with democracy and other forms of free government. The autocrat has total control over the exercise of civil liberties within the autocracy, choosing under what circumstances they may be exercised, if at all. Governments may also blend elements of autocracy and democracy, forming a mixed type of regime sometimes referred to as anocracy, hybrid regime, or electoral autocracy. The concept of autocracy has been recogn

thumb|233x233px|Pol Pot, leader of the [[Khmer Rouge, is widely regarded as one of the most brutal despots of the 20th century, responsible for the deaths of an estimated quarter of Cambodia's population.]] thumb|233x233px|Suharto, who ruled [[Indonesia from 1967 to 1998 under the 'New Order' regime, is regarded as a despot whose rise to power followed the 1965–66 anti-communist purges, during which an estimated half a million people were killed, and whose rule was marked by authoritarianism, repression, and endemic corruption.]]

legal declaration or de facto acts by a government allowing assumption of extraordinary powers

Marxist concept regarding the transitional period from capitalism to communism

use of techniques of mass media, propaganda, the arts, patriotism, and government-organized demonstrations to create an idealized, heroic, and worshipful image of a leader or person

( , spelled Fuehrer when the umlaut is unavailable) is a German word meaning or . As a political title, it is strongly associated with Adolf Hitler, the dictator of Germany from 1933 to 1945. Hitler officially called himself der Führer und Reichskanzler () after the death of President Paul von Hindenburg in 1934, as well as the subsequent merging of the offices of Reichspräsident and Reichskanzler.

thumb|King Jie of Xia holding a Ji polearm and sitting on two ladies. thumb|Killing No Murder, cover page, 18th century reprint of 17th century English pamphlet written to inspire and Tyrannicide|make righteous the act of assassinating Oliver Cromwell

state that is administered and governed by a single communist party

series of anti-communist, anti-dissent campaigns in South America

clandestine form of government of a state, operated through networks of covert power groups

'''''' ( , ) is an Italian title, derived from the Latin word , 'leader', and a cognate of duke. National Fascist Party leader Benito Mussolini was identified by Fascists as ('The Leader') of the movement since the birth of the in 1919. In 1925 it became a reference to the dictatorial position of ('His Excellency Benito Mussolini, Head of Government, Leader of Fascism and Founder of the Empire'). Mussolini held this title together with that of President of the Council of Ministers: this was the constitutional position which entitled him to rule Italy on behalf of the king of Italy. Founder of

(1894-1987) President of Portugal

Fascist ideology as developed in Italy

In political science, the term polyarchy, literally ”rule by many” ( "many", arkhe "rule") was used by Robert Dahl to describe a form of government in which power is invested in multiple people. It takes the form of neither a dictatorship nor a democracy. This form of government was first implemented in the United States and France and gradually adopted by other countries. Polyarchy is different from democracy, according to Dahl, because the fundamental democratic principle is "the continuing responsiveness of the government to the preferences of its citizens, considered as political equals" w

thumb|A 1963 Spanish peseta coin with the image of [[Generalissimo Francisco Franco, and inscription Caudillo de España, por la Gracia de Dios (Spanish for "Caudillo of Spain, by the Grace of God")]] thumb|Juan Manuel de Rosas, c. 1841 by [[Cayetano Descalzi, the caudillo paradigm]] A caudillo ( , ; , from Latin , diminutive of caput "head") is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. No precise English translation exists for the term, though it is often used interchangeably with "military dictator", "warlord", "strongman", and "Generalissimo". The term is historical

period of Yugoslav history under the direct rule of King Alexander I (1929–31)

legal theory that says that the national debt incurred by a despotic regime should not be enforceable

thumb|400px|Map of the world published by Our World in Data in 2015, showing countries color-coded according to their regime type, which was based on their score in the Polity IV data set. Closed anocracies are shown in orange (scores between −5 and 0) and open anocracies are shown in yellow (scores between 1 and 5).

Tyrannicide or tyrannomachia is the killing or assassination of a tyrant or unjust ruler, purportedly for the common good, and usually by one of the tyrant's subjects. Tyrannicide was legally permitted and encouraged in Classical Greece. Often, the term "tyrant" was a justification for political murders by rivals, but in some exceptional cases students of Platonic philosophy risked their lives against tyrants. The killing of Clearchus of Heraclea in 353 BC by a cohort led by his own court philosopher is an example of a tyrannicide. A person who carries out a tyrannicide is also called a "tyran

democracy where voting is a citizen’s only right

is a dictatorship in which civil liberties are allegedly preserved rather than destroyed, and authoritarian and democratic features are combined. is a pun on ("dictatorship") replacing , which by itself is a Spanish word meaning "hard", with , meaning "soft".

political system

thumb|Fausto Veranzio's 1595 Dictionarium quinque linguarum lists poglavnik as a "[[Dalmatian" word (column 4, item 5). It is equated to Latin princeps, German Fürst and Hungarian fejedelem.]] '''''' () is a Croatian word meaning 'leader' or 'guide'.

part of the official ideology of the People’s Republic of China that the Communist Party and the state, representing the people, possess and use powers against reactionary forces

Aesymnetes (Greek: , from , aisa, a "just portion", hence "a person who gives everyone their just portion") was the name of an ancient Greek elected office similar to, and sometimes indistinguishable from, tyrant. The plural is aesymnetai.

genre of Latin American literature that challenges the role of the dictator in Latin American society

political slogan in Iran

alleged flaw in the Constitution of the United States

office held by Julius Caesar

historical events in the Philippines

style of governance

kingdom of Spain government 1923 to 1925

authoritarian regime

binary measure of democracy and dictatorship

government of Spain in the 1920s

form of government in which dictatorial powers are exercised during an emergency

one-government dominance of a parliament

Trial of the dictators in the Greek Regime of the Colonels