Editing Dictator (section)

== Modern era ==
{{multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| width             = 300
| align             = right
| image1            = 2017 Freedom House world map.png
| image2            = EIU Democracy Index 2017.svg
| caption1          = Country ratings for 2016 from [[Freedom House]]'s ''Freedom in the World 2017''<ref>[https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FH_FIW_2017_Report_Final.pdf Freedom in The World 2017 – Populists and Autocrats: The Dual Threat to Global Democracy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727054703/https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/FH_FIW_2017_Report_Final.pdf |date=2017-07-27 }} by ''Freedom House'', January 31, 2017</ref><br />{{legend inline|#16A983|Free (86)}} {{legend inline|#E5B63B|Partly Free (59)}} {{legend inline|#6973A5|Not Free (50)}}
| caption2          = 2017 [[Democracy Index]] by ''[[The Economist]]'' in which countries marked in different shades of red are considered undemocratic, with many being dictatorships<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pages.eiu.com/rs/753-RIQ-438/images/Democracy_Index_2017.pdf?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWkRKbU1HWmxNVEUwTW1FdyIsInQiOiJPdlltVFV0blFRQzZNVERCZHhVeitZRElmUGplOHh3NWs1d2wzVzdRS1JvNU1kVmUxQVRESU9LbEVSOVwvR1F4aG1PV1NlS0ZZcng4NzBcLzVNZ09JOUxiZU5TTEVPekVHayttOTRqQkQ5TkNzWGNtRlowQTZ0UzlUK0pDdm9PVGlcLyJ9|title=Democracy Index 2017 – Economist Intelligence Unit|website=EIU.com|access-date=17 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218214151/http://pages.eiu.com/rs/753-RIQ-438/images/Democracy_Index_2017.pdf?mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiWkRKbU1HWmxNVEUwTW1FdyIsInQiOiJPdlltVFV0blFRQzZNVERCZHhVeitZRElmUGplOHh3NWs1d2wzVzdRS1JvNU1kVmUxQVRESU9LbEVSOVwvR1F4aG1PV1NlS0ZZcng4NzBcLzVNZ09JOUxiZU5TTEVPekVHayttOTRqQkQ5TkNzWGNtRlowQTZ0UzlUK0pDdm9PVGlcLyJ9|archive-date=18 February 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>
}}

As late as the second half of the 19th century, the term ''dictator'' had occasional positive implications. For example, during the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848]], the national leader [[Lajos Kossuth]] was often referred to as dictator, without any negative connotations, by his supporters and detractors alike, although his official title was that of regent-president.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lajos-Kossuth|title=Lajos Kossuth|first=Carlile Aylmer|last=Macartney|publisher=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]|date=September 15, 2020|access-date=October 31, 2020|archive-date=November 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101191955/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lajos-Kossuth|url-status=live}}</ref> When creating a provisional executive in Sicily during the [[Expedition of the Thousand]] in 1860, [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] officially assumed the title of "dictator" (see [[Dictatorship of Garibaldi]]). Shortly afterwards, during the 1863 [[January Uprising|January uprising]] in Poland, "Dictator" was also the official title of four leaders, the first being [[Ludwik Mierosławski]].

[[File:Teodoro Obiang.png|thumb|upright|left|[[Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo]] of Equatorial Guinea is Africa's longest serving dictator.<ref>"[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/teodoro-obiang-nguema-mbasogo-equatorial-guinea-french-corruption-trial-a7238501.html The brutal central African dictator whose playboy son faces French corruption trial]". ''[[The Independent]]''. 12 September 2016.</ref><ref>"[http://www.forbes.com/sites/mfonobongnsehe/2012/02/09/the-five-worst-leaders-in-africa/ The Five Worst Leaders In Africa]". ''[[Forbes]]''. 9 February 2012.</ref>]]

Past that time, however, the term ''dictator'' assumed an invariably negative connotation. In popular usage, a ''dictatorship'' is often associated with brutality and oppression. As a result, it is often also used as a term of abuse against political opponents. The term has also come to be associated with [[wiktionary:megalomania|megalomania]]. Many dictators create a [[cult of personality]] around themselves and they have also come to grant themselves increasingly grandiloquent titles and honours. For instance, [[Idi Amin|Idi Amin Dada]], who had been a British army lieutenant prior to [[Uganda]]'s independence from Britain in October 1962, subsequently styled himself "''[[Excellency|His Excellency]], [[President for Life]], [[Field marshal (Uganda)|Field Marshal]] [[Hajji|Al Hadji]] [[Doctor of Law|Doctor]]{{Ref label|Doctorate|A|}} Idi Amin Dada, VC,{{Ref label|VC|B|}} [[Distinguished Service Order|DSO]], [[Military Cross|MC]], Conqueror of the [[British Empire]] in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular''".<ref name="guardian_obit">{{cite news |last=Keatley |first=Patrick |title=Obituary: Idi Amin |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/aug/18/guardianobituaries |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=18 August 2003 |access-date=2008-03-18 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131205070235/http://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/aug/18/guardianobituaries |archive-date=2013-12-05 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the movie ''[[The Great Dictator]]'' (1940), [[Charlie Chaplin]] satirized not only [[Adolf Hitler]] but the institution of dictatorship itself.

=== Characteristics ===
==== Benevolent dictatorship ====
{{Main|Benevolent dictatorship}}
A [[benevolent dictatorship]] refers to a government in which an authoritarian leader exercises absolute political power over the state but is perceived to do so with regard for the benefit of the population as a whole, standing in contrast to the decidedly malevolent stereotype of a dictator. A benevolent dictator may allow for some [[civil liberties]] or [[democracy|democratic decision-making]] to exist, such as through public [[referendum]]s or [[elect]]ed [[Representative democracy|representative]]s with limited power, and often makes preparations for a [[Democratization|transition to genuine democracy]] during or after their term. The label has been applied to leaders such as [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]] of [[Turkey]]	(1923–38),<ref>{{Cite web |title=Atatürk, Ghazi Mustapha Kemal (1881–1938) {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/international/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ataturk-ghazi-mustapha-kemal-1881-1938 |access-date=2023-09-18 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}}</ref> [[Josip Broz Tito]] of [[SFR Yugoslavia]] (1953–80),<ref name="shapiro">{{cite book |last1=Shapiro |first1=Susan |last2=Shapiro |first2=Ronald |title=The Curtain Rises: Oral Histories of the Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe |publisher=McFarland |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7864-1672-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oCqWFQ1WKlkC&pg=PA180 |ref=Shapiro_2004 |access-date=2019-01-19 |archive-date=2021-05-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512060314/https://books.google.com/books?id=oCqWFQ1WKlkC&pg=PA180 |url-status=live }}<br />"...All Yugoslavs had educational opportunities, jobs, food, and housing regardless of nationality. Tito, seen by most as a benevolent dictator, brought peaceful co-existence to the Balkan region, a region historically synonymous with factionalism."</ref> and [[Lee Kuan Yew]] of Singapore (1959–90).<ref>{{Cite news |title=What Singapore can teach us |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-singapore-can-teach-us/2012/05/02/gIQAlQEGwT_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2012-05-02 |access-date=2015-11-25 |issn=0190-8286 |first=Matt |last=Miller |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311045232/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-singapore-can-teach-us/2012/05/02/gIQAlQEGwT_story.html |archive-date=2016-03-11 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Military roles ====
The association between a dictator and the military is a common one. Many dictators take great pains to emphasize their connections with the military and they often wear military uniforms. In some cases, this is perfectly legitimate; for instance, [[Francisco Franco]] was a general in the Spanish Army before he became [[Head of state|Chief of State]] of Spain,<ref>{{Cite book|ref=Thomas|first=Hugh|author-link=Hugh Thomas, Baron Thomas of Swynnerton|last=Thomas|year=1977|title=The Spanish Civil War|isbn=978-0-06-014278-0|pages=421–424|publisher=Harper & Row }}</ref> and [[Manuel Noriega]] was officially commander of the [[Panamanian Defense Forces]]. In other cases, the association is mere pretense.

==== Crowd manipulation ====
Some dictators have been masters of [[crowd manipulation]], such as [[Benito Mussolini]] and Adolf Hitler. Others were more prosaic speakers, such as [[Joseph Stalin]] and [[Francisco Franco]]. Typically, the dictator's people seize control of all media, censor or destroy the opposition, and give strong doses of propaganda daily, often built around a [[cult of personality]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Morstein |first=Marx Fritz |display-authors=etal |title=Propaganda and Dictatorship |publisher=Princeton UP |isbn=978-1-4067-4724-9|date=March 2007 }}</ref>

Mussolini and Hitler used similar titles referring to them as "the Leader". Mussolini used "Il [[Duce]]" and Hitler was generally referred to as "der [[Führer]]", both meaning 'Leader' in Italian and German respectively. Franco used a similar title, "El [[Caudillo]]" ("the Head", 'the chieftain')<ref>{{cite book|ref=Hamil|editor=Hamil, Hugh M. |title=Caudillos: Dictators in Spanish America|publisher =University of Oklahoma Press|year= 1992|isbn=978-0-8061-2428-5|chapter=Introduction|pages=5–6}}</ref> and for Stalin his adopted name, meaning "Man of Steel", became synonymous with his role as the absolute leader. For Mussolini, Hitler, and Franco, the use of modest, non-traditional titles displayed their absolute power even stronger as they did not need any, not even a historic legitimacy either. However, in the case of Franco, the title "Caudillo" did have a longer history for political-military figures in both Latin America and Spain. Franco also used the phrase "[[By the Grace of God]]" on coinage or other material displaying him as ''Caudillo'', whereas Hitler and Mussolini rarely used such language or imagery. {{cn|date=October 2024}}

==== Human rights abuses, war crimes and genocides ====
[[File:0718-Syria-Defectors-reemerge.jpg|thumb|Under Syrian dictator [[Bashar al-Assad]], [[Syrian military]] inflicted industrial-scale atrocities on civilian population during the [[Syrian civil war]]. These include hundreds of chemical attacks, such as the [[Ghouta chemical attack]], the largest chemical attack in the 21st century.<ref>{{cite news |author=S.B. |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2013/08/syria-s-war |title=Syria's war: If this isn't a red line, what is? |newspaper=The Economist |date=21 August 2013 |access-date=15 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220174814/http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2013/08/syria-s-war |archive-date=20 December 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theweek.co.uk/world-news/syria-uprising/54759/syria-gas-attack-death-toll-1400-worst-halabja|title=Syria gas attack: death toll at 1,400 worst since Halabja|work=The Week|date=22 August 2013|access-date=24 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825115627/http://www.theweek.co.uk/world-news/syria-uprising/54759/syria-gas-attack-death-toll-1400-worst-halabja|archive-date=25 August 2013|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=D. Ward |first=Kenneth |date=September 2021 |title=Syria, Russia, and the Global Chemical Weapons Crisis |url=https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2021-09/features/syria-russia-global-chemical-weapons-crisis |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230708153519/https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2021-09/features/syria-russia-global-chemical-weapons-crisis |archive-date=8 July 2023 |website=Arms Control Association}}</ref>]]

Over time, dictators have been known to use tactics that violate human rights. For example, under the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, government policy was enforced by [[secret police]] and the [[Gulag]] system of prison labour camps. Most Gulag inmates were not political prisoners, although significant numbers of political prisoners could be found in the camps at any one time. Data collected from Soviet archives gives the death toll from Gulags as 1,053,829.<ref>"Gulag Prisoner Population Statistics from 1934 to 1953." ''Wasatch.edu''. Wasatch, n.d. Web. 16 July 2016: "According to a 1993 study of Soviet archival data, a total of 1,053,829 people died in the Gulag from 1934 to 1953. However, taking into account that it was common practice to release prisoners who were either suffering from incurable diseases or on the point of death, the actual Gulag death toll was somewhat higher, amounting to 1,258,537 in 1934–53, or 1.6 million deaths during the whole period from 1929 to 1953.."</ref> The [[International Criminal Court]] issued an arrest warrant for [[Sudan]]'s military dictator [[Omar al-Bashir]] over alleged [[War in Darfur|war crimes]] in [[Darfur]].

Similar crimes were committed during [[Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party|Chairman]] [[Mao Zedong]]'s [[History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976)|rule]] over the [[China|People's Republic of China]] during China's [[Cultural Revolution]], where Mao set out to purge dissidents, primarily through the use of youth groups strongly committed to [[Mao Zedong's cult of personality|his cult of personality]],<ref>{{cite web|date=18 August 2012|title=Remembering the dark days of China's Cultural Revolution|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1017272/remembering-dark-days-chinas-cultural-revolution|access-date=2021-07-15|website=South China Morning Post|language=en|archive-date=2018-06-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180609084717/http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1017272/remembering-dark-days-chinas-cultural-revolution|url-status=live}}</ref> and during [[Augusto Pinochet]]'s [[Government Junta of Chile (1973)|junta]] in [[Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990)|Chile]].<ref>[[Pamela Constable]] and [[Arturo Valenzuela]], ''A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet,'' New York: W.W Norton & Company, 1993., p. 91</ref> Some dictators have been associated with [[genocide]] on certain races or groups; the most notable and wide-reaching example is [[the Holocaust]], [[Adolf Hitler]]'s genocide of eleven million people, of whom six million were Jews.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Holocaust|url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/holocaust|access-date=2021-07-15|website=The National WWII Museum {{!}} New Orleans|language=en|archive-date=2021-07-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210715152635/https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/holocaust|url-status=live}}</ref> Later on in [[Democratic Kampuchea]], [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of Kampuchea|General Secretary]] [[Pol Pot]] and his policies killed an estimated 1.7&nbsp;million people (out of a population of 7 million) during his four-year dictatorship.<ref>"{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2097426_2097427_2097449,00.html |title=Top 15 Toppled Dictators |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=20 October 2011 |access-date=4 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130824000146/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2097426_2097427_2097449,00.html |archive-date=2013-08-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref> As a result, Pol Pot is sometimes described as "the [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] of Cambodia" and "a genocidal tyrant".<ref>William Branigin, [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-664002.html Architect of Genocide Was Unrepentant to the End] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509211319/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-664002.html |date=2013-05-09 }} ''[[The Washington Post]]'', April 17, 1998</ref>

=== Modern usage in formal titles ===
[[File:Giuseppe Garibaldi portrait2.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Giuseppe Garibaldi]], celebrated as one of the greatest generals of modern times<ref name="scholar and patriot">{{Cite web|title=Scholar and Patriot|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iWK7AAAAIAAJ&q=Garibaldi%2Bone%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bgreatest%2Bgenerals%2Bof%2Bmodern%2Btime&pg=PAPA133|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240328152801/https://books.google.com/books?id=iWK7AAAAIAAJ&pg=PAPA133&q=Garibaldi%2Bone%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bgreatest%2Bgenerals%2Bof%2Bmodern%2Btime#v=onepage&q=Garibaldi%2Bone%2Bof%2Bthe%2Bgreatest%2Bgenerals%2Bof%2Bmodern%2Btime&f=false|archive-date=28 March 2024|access-date=5 April 2020|publisher=Manchester University Press|via=Google Books}}</ref> and as the "Hero of the Two Worlds" because of his military enterprises in South America and Europe,<ref name="Garibaldi on Encyclopædia Britannica">{{Cite web|title=Giuseppe Garibaldi (Italian revolutionary)|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/225978/Giuseppe-Garibaldi|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226091529/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/225978/Giuseppe-Garibaldi|archive-date=26 February 2014|access-date=6 March 2014}}</ref> who fought in many military campaigns that led to [[Italian unification]]. He proclaimed himself [[Dictatorial Government of Sicily|dictator of Sicily]] in 1860 during the [[Expedition of the Thousand]]]]

Because of its negative and pejorative connotations, modern authoritarian leaders very rarely (if ever) use the term ''dictator'' in their formal titles, instead they most often simply have title of [[President (government title)|president]]. In the 19th century, however, its official usage was more common:<ref>Moisés Prieto, ed. ''Dictatorship in the Nineteenth Century: Conceptualisations, Experiences, Transfers'' (Routledge, 2021).</ref>

* The [[Dictatorial Government of Sicily]] (27 May – 4 November 1860) was a provisional executive government appointed by [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] to rule [[Sicily]] during the [[Expedition of the Thousand]]. The government ended when [[Sicily#Italian unification|Sicily's annexation]] into the Kingdom of Italy was ratified by plebiscite.<ref>Cesare Vetter, "Garibaldi and the dictatorship: Features and cultural sources." in ''Dictatorship in the Nineteenth Century'' (Routledge, 2021) pp. 113–132.</ref>
* [[Marian Langiewicz]] of Poland proclaimed himself Dictator and attempted (unsuccessfully) to form a Polish government in March 1863.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Langiewicz, Maryan}}</ref>
* [[Romuald Traugutt]] was Dictator of Poland from 17 October 1863 to 10 April 1864.<ref>Stefan Kieniewicz, "Polish Society and the Insurrection of 1863." ''Past & Present'' 37 (1967): 130–148.</ref>
* The [[Dictatorial Government of the Philippines]] (24 May – 23 June 1898) was an insurgent government in the Philippines which was headed by [[Emilio Aguinaldo]], who formally held the title of Dictator.<ref name=aguinaldo>{{cite web|title=The First Philippine Republic|url=http://nhcp.gov.ph/the-first-philippine-republic/|publisher=National Historical Commission|access-date=26 May 2018|date=7 September 2012|quote=On June 20, Aguinaldo issued a decree organizing the judiciary, and on June 23, again upon Mabini’s advice, major changes were promulgated and implemented: change of government from Dictatorial to Revolutionary; change of the Executive title from Dictator to President|archive-date=27 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170127011004/http://nhcp.gov.ph/the-first-philippine-republic/|url-status=live}}</ref> The dictatorial government was superseded by the [[Revolutionary Government of the Philippines (1898–1899)|revolutionary government]] with Aguinaldo as president.

=== Criticism ===
The usage of the term ''dictator'' in western media has been criticized by the left-leaning organization [[Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting]] as "Code for Government We Don't Like". According to them, leaders that would generally be considered authoritarian but are allied with the United States such as [[Paul Biya]] or [[Nursultan Nazarbayev]] are rarely referred to as "dictators", while leaders of countries opposed to U.S. policy such as [[Nicolás Maduro]] or [[Bashar al-Assad]] have the term applied to them much more liberally.<ref>{{cite web|date=2019-04-11|title=Dictator: Media Code for 'Government We Don't Like'|url=https://fair.org/home/dictator-media-code-for-government-we-dont-like/|access-date=2021-04-07|website=FAIR|language=en-US|archive-date=2021-04-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416210800/https://fair.org/home/dictator-media-code-for-government-we-dont-like/|url-status=live}}</ref>