The 5 types of dictatorship (and their characteristics)

A dictatorship is an authoritarian form of government characterized by concentrating all power over a leader or a small group of leaders. In this way, the existence of political pluralism is prevented and numerous rights are eliminated in order to oppress and submit citizens to the regime. Therefore, we could say that a dictatorship is the opposite of what we know as democracy, since in this the rulers are chosen by the people through elections where different candidates participate.

Dictatorships act outside or above existing laws, bypassing any type of democratic control. It is a form of government in which it acts, supposedly, in favor of the common benefit, although for this it suppresses the will of the citizens of the State. When a country is governed in this way, the division of powers of the State (legislative, executive and judicial) is suppressed or ignored, which entails a suppression of essential rights and freedoms. In this way, the population lacks the possibilities to participate in the politics of their nation and is subject to the will of the leader.

What are dictatorships?

Dictatorships tend to be implanted in troubled political contexts or crisis situations, using force and violence.. Many times, its beginning is marked by a coup d'état in which military sectors with a certain ideology take power forcibly. On other occasions, this coup is not caused by the military but by civilians, and the suppression of democratic normality in the government's own structures may begin.

All this has led the international community to condemn this type of totalitarian regimes, since dictatorships oppose the freedom of people and the development of nations. They violate human rights and use violence not only to establish themselves, but also to maintain power. In the medium and long term, dictatorships use different tools to strengthen their control over the population.

Some examples of this are political propaganda and censorship. Propaganda allows people to be bombarded with information related to the regime in all possible ways, often subliminally and subtly. On the other hand, censorship favors the iron control of the information that reaches the public, which allows the manipulation of the masses, offering a totally biased vision of reality.

Dictatorships are usually justified by claiming that the leader who concentrates all power is a kind of savior, whose ultimate goal is to solve all the problems of the people. Dictatorships extol the virtues of the leader to the extreme, offering a distorted and sugary vision of his person and making false promises about all that he will achieve for the citizenry. Many dictators try to gain the trust of citizens by showing themselves in favor of the most unprotected sectors of society, so that they come to power to do justice for them.

Some dictatorships take less obvious forms, since the presence of other political parties is not radically suppressed. In these cases elections can be held, but they are not really democratic, because the opposition that appears is meticulously controlled. Although all dictatorships share these essential characteristics, the truth is that there are different types. In this article we are going to learn about each of them and their respective characteristics.

What kinds of dictatorships are there?

All dictatorships are based on similar principles, although several types have been differentiated throughout history. Let's get to know them.

1. Military dictatorship

This type of dictatorship is one in which the power and authority of the government are concentrated in an officer or group of officers of the high military spheres. In this way, they are the ones who decide who will take the reins of the State, influencing politics in a total way. Normally, those who assume the leadership of the country in this type of government are those who have been senior commanders in the army.

There are many countries in the world that have been or are under the rule of dictatorships of this type. Examples are Indonesia, Nigeria, Brazil, Pakistan, and even the United States. In Argentina a military dictatorship was established that lasted from 1976 to 1983, with Jorge Videla as president.

2. Authoritarian dictatorship

Authoritarian dictatorships, also known as personalist dictatorships, are one of the most prevalent types. In them, a single individual presents himself as the leader who takes control of the countryThis may come from the armed forces or from a political party. In addition, this form of government can start from any political party or ideology. Dictatorships of this type differ from others in that, apparently, they are more fragile, since the dictator does not have great institutional or group support, since he acts in a much more solitary and autonomous way.

The circle of support is usually made up of family and friends, whom the dictator arbitrarily assigns to different positions of importance. This means that the members of the government are not true professionals, since their merit to be elected has been to be loyal, not competent. For this reason, the government team is usually poorly trained to face the challenges that are presented to it. The dictator tries to buy out his closest allies and makes sure that they cannot organize against him.

Authoritarian dictatorships are those that carry the most severe consequences for the people, since they allow to exercise power and repression over citizens without any type of restriction, destroying the economic resources of the country and drastically stopping its growth. In the worst cases, the authoritarian dictator can start wars at will. Furthermore, despite its apparent fragility because it depends on a single leader, its average duration exceeds that of other types of dictatorships.

An example of this type of regime can be the dictatorship that Fidel Castro carried out in Cuba, since with his rise to power he has committed assassinations, caused exiles and carried out severe human rights violations.

3. Totalitarian dictatorship

In a certain way, this type of dictatorship is characterized by being the opposite of the previous one. Far from being a lonely leader, the dictator in this case comes to power supported by the masses. In this case, the person who concentrates power defends at all costs a thought or ideology that has the approval of the population.

This type of rulers often resort to populist speeches to win the sympathy of the people, showing themselves as key figures to achieve what the people want. One of the most illustrative examples of what a totalitarian dictatorship is we find in Nazi Germany and in its leader, Adolf Hitler. If we look for current examples, this profile also fits the People's Republic of China, chaired by Xi Jinping.

4. Constitutional dictatorship

A constitutional dictatorship is one in which, within certain parameters, the provisions of the country's Constitution are respected. The power in this case is concentrated in an individual or a small group of people, who are divided between the judicial, executive and legislative power. In other words, there is no separation of powers. It is possible that there is only a single political party in the regime.

In these dictatorships, what is known as constitutional fraud occurs. This means that, although apparently the principles of the rule of law are respected, basically this is not the case at all. An example of constitutional fraud is what is known as electoral fraud, a procedure by which deliberately interferes in the electoral process with the aim of altering the will of the voters. Many consider the one led by Hugo Chávez in Venezuela as an example of this type of dictatorship.

5. Monarchical dictatorship

A monarchical dictatorship is one in which a person seizes the government of the country by inheritance, thus going on to hold all the authorities and powers. This type of dictatorship happens in Saudi Arabia, where a single family, the royal family, is the one that maintains control of the country for generations.

Conclusions.

In this article we have talked about the different types of dictatorships that exist. A dictatorship is an undemocratic form of government, by which a person or group of people take control of a State by force, so that the will of the people is ignored. Those who come to power in this way can belong to all kinds of ideologies and political parties and can even be high-ranking military officers.

In any case, his coming to power goes against the freedoms and rights of citizens, who are repressed and deprived of fundamental human rights. These types of governments apply strong repressive measures to ensure their maintenance of power, using strategies such as political propaganda or censorship to skew the information that citizens receive.

In many cases, the dictator presents himself to the people as a kind of savior, who is capable of fulfilling the wishes and needs of the people. However, these are mere strategies of persuasion, used to gain the confidence of the population and to maximize the time in power. It is clear that this type of dictatorship does not meet what citizens need, as the international community has condemned them for going against progress and people's rights.