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Dictator

A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique.[1] The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times of emergency.[1]

"Dictators" redirects here. For the American band, see The Dictators.

Like the term tyrant, and to a lesser degree autocrat, dictator came to be used almost exclusively as a non-titular term for oppressive rule. In modern usage the term dictator is generally used to describe a leader who holds or abuses an extraordinary amount of personal power. Dictatorships are often characterised by some of the following: suspension of elections and civil liberties; proclamation of a state of emergency; rule by decree; repression of political opponents; not abiding by the procedures of the rule of law; and the existence of a cult of personality centered on the leader. Dictatorships are often one-party or dominant-party states.[2][3]


A wide variety of leaders coming to power in different kinds of regimes, such as one-party or dominant-party states and civilian governments under a personal rule, have been described as dictators.

The (27 May – 4 November 1860) was a provisional executive government appointed by Giuseppe Garibaldi to rule Sicily. The government ended when Sicily's annexation into the Kingdom of Italy was ratified by plebiscite.[21]

Dictatorial Government of Sicily

of Poland proclaimed himself Dictator and attempted (unsuccessfully) to form a Polish government in March 1863.[22]

Marian Langiewicz

was Dictator of Poland from 17 October 1863 to 10 April 1864.[23]

Romuald Traugutt

The (1898–1898) was an insurgent government in the Philippines which was headed by Emilio Aguinaldo, who formally held the title of Dictator.[24] The dictatorial government was superseded by the revolutionary government with Aguinaldo as president.

Dictatorial Government of the Philippines

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. In the 19th century, however, its official usage was more common:[20]

He conferred a doctorate of law on himself from Makerere University.[34]

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The Victorious Cross (VC) was a medal made to emulate the British Victoria Cross.[35]

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at the Internet Archive

Online books on dictatorship

Acemoglu, Daron; James A. Robinson (2009). Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (Reprint ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  9780521855266. OCLC 698971569. Scholarly approach to comparative political economy; excerpt.

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Armillas-Tiseyra, Magalí (2019). The Dictator Novel: Writers and Politics in the Global South. Evanston, Illinois: Northwestern University Press.  9780810140417. OCLC 1050363415. Excerpt.

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Baehr, Peter; Melvin Richter (2004). Dictatorship in History and Theory. Publications of the German Historical Institute. Washington, D.C.; Cambridge: German Historical Institute; Cambridge University Press.  9780521825634. OCLC 52134632. Scholarly focus on 19th century Europe.

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Ben-Ghiat, Ruth (2020). Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.  9780393868418. OCLC 1233267123. Scholarly analysis of 13 major dictators; excerpt.

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Brooker, Paul (1997). Defiant Dictatorships: Communist and Middle-Eastern Dictatorships in a Democratic Age. New York: New York University Press.  9780814713112. OCLC 36817139. Excerpt.

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Costa Pinto, António (2019). Latin American Dictatorships in the Era of Fascism: The Corporatist Wave. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.  9780367243852. OCLC 1099538601. Excerpt.

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Crowson, N. J. (1997). Facing Fascism: The Conservative Party and the European Dictators 1935–1940. London: Routledge.  9780415153157. OCLC 36662892. How the Conservative government in Britain dealt with them.

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Dávila, Jerry (2013). Dictatorship in South America. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.  9781405190558. OCLC 820108972. Covers Brazil, Argentina, and Chile since 1945; excerpt;

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Galván, Javier A. (2013). Latin American Dictators of the 20th Century: The Lives and Regimes of 15 Rulers. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company.  9780786466917. OCLC 794708240. Brief scholarly summaries; excerpt.

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Hamill, Hugh M. (1995). Caudillos: Dictators in Spanish America (New ed.). Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.  9780806124285. OCLC 1179406479.

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Harford Vargas, Jennifer (2018). Forms of Dictatorship: Power, Narrative, and Authoritarianism in the Latina/o Novel. New York: Oxford University Press.  9780190642853. OCLC 983824496.

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Kim, Michael; Michael Schoenhals; Yong-Woo Kim, eds. (2013). Mass Dictatorship and Modernity. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.  9781137304322. OCLC 810117713. Excerpt.

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Im, Chi-hyŏn; Karen Petrone, eds. (2010). Gender Politics and Mass Dictatorship: Global Perspectives. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.  9780230242043. OCLC 700131132. Excerpt.

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Lüdtke, Alf, ed. (2015). Everyday Life in Mass Dictatorship: Collusion and Evasion. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.  9781137442765. OCLC 920469575. Excerpt.

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Mainwaring, Scott; Aníbal Pérez-Liñán, eds. (2014). Democracies and Dictatorships in Latin America: Emergence, Survival, and Fall. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  9780521190015. OCLC 851642671. Excerpt.

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Moore, Barrington Jr. (1966). Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World. Boston: Beacon Press.  9780807050736. OCLC 28065698. online

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Peake, Lesley (2021). Guide to History's Worst Dictators: From Emperor Nero to Vlad the Impaler and More. Self published.  9798737828066. Popular.

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Rank, Michael (2013). Guide to History's Worst Dictators: From Emperor Nero to Vlad the Impaler. Moreno Valley, Calif.: Solicitor Publishing.  875273089. Popular; eBook.

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Spencer, Robert (2021). Dictators Dictatorship and the African Novel: Fictions of the State Under Neoliberalism. Chaim, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.  9783030665555. OCLC 1242746124.

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Weyland, Kurt Gerhard (2019). Revolution and Reaction: The Diffusion of Authoritarianism in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  9781108483551. OCLC 1076804405. Excerpt.

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Current Dictators of the World