Dictator
m (Caeascue was bad, but he doesn't need to be on the list twice.) |
(More African cases) |
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*[[Idi Amin]] - [[Uganda]] | *[[Idi Amin]] - [[Uganda]] | ||
*[[Robert Mugabe]] - Zimbabwe (currently in power) | *[[Robert Mugabe]] - Zimbabwe (currently in power) | ||
| + | *Mobutu Sese Seko - Zaire | ||
| + | *Haile Selassie; Mengistu Haile Miriam - Ethiopia | ||
| + | *Hastings Banda - Malawi | ||
| + | *Samuel Doe; Charles Taylor - Liberia | ||
===Middle East=== | ===Middle East=== | ||
Revision as of 03:05, 8 January 2008
Dictators, also known as autocrats, despots, or tyrants, are totalitarian absolute rulers with very few checks on their power. They tend to be brutally corrupt and repressive.
The United States has a history of supporting dictators when it is in their interests. Conservapedia is known to praise right-wing dictators, particularly when they are aligned with the United States.
The former Soviet Union, itself a highly authoritarian government for most of its history and a full-blown dictatorship under Stalin, supported dictators in its satellite, puppet, and client states.
Contents |
Examples of Dictators
These are all from the "modern" era; that is, the last hundred years or so.
Axis powers in WW2
- Adolf Hitler - Germany
- Francisco Franco - Spain (while technically unaligned, Spain leaned heavily towards Axis support in the war.)
- Benito Mussolini - Italy
- Emperor Hirohito - Japan (Technically,WWII Japan was more of a military dictatorship, with the Emperor as figurehead.)
- Ante Pavelić - Croatia
- Philippe Pétain - Vichy France
- Ion Antonescu - Romania
Soviet powers, satellites, and leftovers
- Joseph Stalin - Soviet Union
- Fidel Castro - Cuba
- Islom Abdug‘aniyevich Karimov - Uzbekistan
- Aleksandr Lukashenko - Belarus (currently in power)
- Wojciech Jaruzelski - Poland
- Erich Honecker - East Germany
- Nicolae Ceauşescu - Romania
Europe
- Josip Broz Tito - Yugoslavia
- Enver Hoxha - Albania
- Slobodan Milosevic - Serbia
- António de Oliveira Salazar - Portugal
Asia
- Mao Zedong - China
- Kim Jong Il - North Korea (currently in power)
- Pol Pot - Cambodia
- Ferdinand Marcos - Phillippines
South and Central America
Dictatorships in the Americas are a rather sticky subject, as many of them were supported at some point or another by United States authority.
- Augusto Pinochet - Chile
- Anastasio Somoza - Nicaragua
- Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier - Haiti
- Fulgencio Batista - Cuba
- Manuel Noriega - Panama
Africa
- Idi Amin - Uganda
- Robert Mugabe - Zimbabwe (currently in power)
- Mobutu Sese Seko - Zaire
- Haile Selassie; Mengistu Haile Miriam - Ethiopia
- Hastings Banda - Malawi
- Samuel Doe; Charles Taylor - Liberia
Middle East
- Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi - Iran
- Ayatollah Khomeini - Iran
- Some guy named "Saud" - Saudi Arabia (currently in power)
- Saddam Hussein - Iraq
Not quite dictators
- Hugo Chavez - Venezuela (sought absolute power, but it was rejected by the Venezuelan people)
- Hu Jintao - China (he is in charge of a highly authoritarian government, but doesn't have absolute power)
- Vladimir Putin - Russia (almost, but just barely democratic enough to avoid the label)
Quotes
“”Your conscience might force you to vote Democratic, but in truth you want a Republican who will lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and RULE YOU LIKE A KING.
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| —Sideshow Bob |
“”If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just as long as I'm the dictator.
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| —George W. Bush, December 18, 2000, emphasis added. |