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Created page with 'File:lighterstill.jpgright|frame *[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_century 1542] ==Definitions== *1: the office of dictator *2:...'
[[File:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:Diego_rivera_dictatorship_1936.jpg|right|frame]]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_century 1542]
==Definitions==
*1: the office of dictator
*2: [[autocratic]] rule, [[control]], or [[leadership]]
*3a : a form of [[government]] in which [[absolute]] [[power]] is [[concentrated]] in a dictator or a small clique
:b : a government [[organization]] or [[group]] in which absolute power is so [[concentrated]]
:c : a despotic state
==Description==
A '''dictatorship''' is defined as an [[autocratic]] form of [[government]] in which the government is ruled by an [[individual]], the dictator. It has three possible [[meanings]]:
*1. A [[Roman]] dictator was the incumbent of a political office of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Republic Roman Republic]. Roman dictators were allocated [[absolute]] power during times of [[emergency]]. Their power was originally neither [[arbitrary]] nor unaccountable, being subject to [[law]] and requiring retrospective justification. There were no such dictatorships after the beginning of the 2nd century BC, and later dictators such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulla Sulla] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Emperor Roman Emperors] exercised power much more personally and arbitrarily.
*2. A [[government]] controlled by one [[person]], or a small group of people. In this form of government the power rests entirely on the person or group of people, and can be obtained by [[force]] or by [[inheritance]]. The dictator(s) may also take away much of its peoples' [[freedom]].
*3. In contemporary usage, dictatorship refers to an [[autocratic]] form of absolute rule by [[leadership]] unrestricted by [[law]], [[constitutions]], or other [[social]] and [[political]] [[factors]] within the state.
In the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century 20th century] and early 21st century hereditary dictatorship remained a relatively common [[phenomenon]].
For some [[scholars]], a dictatorship is a form of [[government]] that has the power to govern without [[consent]] of those being governed (similar to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism authoritarianism]), while [[totalitarianism]] describes a state that regulates nearly every aspect of [[public]] and [[private]] [[behavior]] of the people. In other [[words]], dictatorship concerns the source of the governing power (where the power comes from) and [[totalitarianism]] concerns the scope of the governing power (what is the government).
In this sense, dictatorship (government without people's [[consent]]) is a [[contrast]] to [[democracy]] (government whose power comes from people) and [[totalitarianism]] (government controls every aspect of people's life) opposes [[pluralism]] (government allows multiple lifestyles and opinions).
Other [[scholars]] stress the [[omnipotence]] of the [[State]] (with its consequent [[suspension]] of [[rights]]) as the key element of a dictatorship and argue that such [[concentration]] of [[power]] can be legitimate or not depending on the [[circumstances]], objectives and [[methods]] employed.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictatorship]
[[Category: Political Science]]
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_century 1542]
==Definitions==
*1: the office of dictator
*2: [[autocratic]] rule, [[control]], or [[leadership]]
*3a : a form of [[government]] in which [[absolute]] [[power]] is [[concentrated]] in a dictator or a small clique
:b : a government [[organization]] or [[group]] in which absolute power is so [[concentrated]]
:c : a despotic state
==Description==
A '''dictatorship''' is defined as an [[autocratic]] form of [[government]] in which the government is ruled by an [[individual]], the dictator. It has three possible [[meanings]]:
*1. A [[Roman]] dictator was the incumbent of a political office of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Republic Roman Republic]. Roman dictators were allocated [[absolute]] power during times of [[emergency]]. Their power was originally neither [[arbitrary]] nor unaccountable, being subject to [[law]] and requiring retrospective justification. There were no such dictatorships after the beginning of the 2nd century BC, and later dictators such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulla Sulla] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Emperor Roman Emperors] exercised power much more personally and arbitrarily.
*2. A [[government]] controlled by one [[person]], or a small group of people. In this form of government the power rests entirely on the person or group of people, and can be obtained by [[force]] or by [[inheritance]]. The dictator(s) may also take away much of its peoples' [[freedom]].
*3. In contemporary usage, dictatorship refers to an [[autocratic]] form of absolute rule by [[leadership]] unrestricted by [[law]], [[constitutions]], or other [[social]] and [[political]] [[factors]] within the state.
In the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_century 20th century] and early 21st century hereditary dictatorship remained a relatively common [[phenomenon]].
For some [[scholars]], a dictatorship is a form of [[government]] that has the power to govern without [[consent]] of those being governed (similar to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarianism authoritarianism]), while [[totalitarianism]] describes a state that regulates nearly every aspect of [[public]] and [[private]] [[behavior]] of the people. In other [[words]], dictatorship concerns the source of the governing power (where the power comes from) and [[totalitarianism]] concerns the scope of the governing power (what is the government).
In this sense, dictatorship (government without people's [[consent]]) is a [[contrast]] to [[democracy]] (government whose power comes from people) and [[totalitarianism]] (government controls every aspect of people's life) opposes [[pluralism]] (government allows multiple lifestyles and opinions).
Other [[scholars]] stress the [[omnipotence]] of the [[State]] (with its consequent [[suspension]] of [[rights]]) as the key element of a dictatorship and argue that such [[concentration]] of [[power]] can be legitimate or not depending on the [[circumstances]], objectives and [[methods]] employed.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictatorship]
[[Category: Political Science]]