A dictatorship is a government that violates current legislation and does not comply with the legal system.
A dictatorship is a government that disregards the legal system and current legislation to exercise, without any type of opposition, the authority of a country. The term is extended to the country with this form of government and the length of time this type of mandate lasts.
The dictatorship usually concentrates its power around the figure of a single individual, who is called the dictator . Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini are two examples of dictators.
Upon accessing power , either democratically or through a coup d'état , the dictator usually forms a de facto government where there is no division of powers and the opposition is prevented from reaching the government by institutional means (elections are suspended and political parties are prohibited, for example).
History of dictatorships
The notion of dictatorship dates back to Roman times, when supreme authority could be granted to one person (the dictator) in times of crisis, usually linked to wars.
Over time, dictatorships became predominantly military dictatorships , where the dictator is supported by military force that is responsible for repressing dissidents and imposing terror to prevent dissent. One can also speak of constitutional dictatorships when, under apparent respect for the Constitution , a dictator violates legislation to exercise power.
Beyond political and social organization, any dominant force that exercises predominance is known as a dictatorship. For example: “The dictatorship of aesthetics imposes itself on the lives of adolescent girls.”
It is common for dictatorships to impose censorship to prevent criticism.
A type of totalitarianism
An ideology in which the individuality of the beings that make up society does not exist is known as totalitarianism ; That is to say, it suppresses free will and people exist as long as they are part of society and collaborate for the normal conduct of its life.
In each totalitarianism the hegemonic ideas vary according to the ideology that supports it, which are always extremist. Regarding dictatorships, they are also guided and focused from an ideology. The dictatorship of the proletariat , for example, was based on Marxist ideas and was a creed that persecuted those who clung to other political ideas but was tolerant of the proletariat and the peasantry. Its difference with the rest of the dictatorships that existed until now was that in this case the hegemony was in accordance with the ideas of the most disadvantaged classes, while the previous ones represented the ideas of the upper class or the nobility .
Fascist dictatorships
Regarding dictatorships with a fascist orientation , the interests that support them are those that define an ethnic group or culture. The people who are part of society do not exist as individual beings unless they feel identified by the cause and act around the “will” of the ethnic group .
Unlike other dictatorships, fascist doctrinal thought recognizes itself as the only valid one and assumes its role as a totalitarian idealist, imposing itself on the prevailing cultural diversity. And he does so by imposing an authoritarian figure to whom the residents must worship and subordinate themselves.
The abuse of power
It is worth mentioning that one of the resources used by dictatorships to impose themselves is violence and abuse of authority . The citizens end up obeying and considering the leader as someone ideal for fear of being humiliated or even killed; In this way, the hegemony of radical ideas is maintained, through fear and extortion .
One of the objectives of every society is to prevent these situations from taking place again because the arrival of a dictatorship to power not only leads to the suppression of individual freedoms but also leads to thousands of deaths and disappearances.