Crazy Dictators

We haven’t learnt from our mistakes. Despite a history full of figures like Caligula, Ivan the Terrible, Mussolini and Hitler, the world is still full of dictators of varying sanity; international bodies, notably the United Nations, seem to be unable (or unwilling?) to stop them.  On these pages you will find a selection of the more recent dictators, as well as links to other information about them, their regimes and their victims.

 

The first dictators were Roman chaps like the great military commander Julius Caesar, who seized power in 49BC, thus ending the Roman Republic. Here we have three criteria for a dictator: one person who has seized power from a legitimate government and used military force to establish and continue his regime.

 

I included Caligula and Ivan the Terrible above, but you might disagree that they were dictators. They were both legitimately- appointed rulers, who inherited a crown, and didn't need to rely on military force for people's natural obedience. We might instead call these characters tyrants (from the Greek tyrannos, an absolute ruler) or despots (from the Greek despotes, a master). In classical/ mediaeval times, it was tyrant and despot which carried negative criticism, rather than dictator. Charles I was executed for tyranny.

 

A tyrant is someone who abuses his legitimate power to oppress people; someone who, instead of being guided by the welfare of his subjects and by law, treads roughshod over rights and liberties for his own selfish ends.

Not all tyrants are dicatators; are all dictators tyrants? Lenin might have argued not. He felt in 1917 that a Bolshevik dictatorship was the only way of serving, and freeing, the people. He saw himself rather as a selfless doctor, forcing nasty-tasting medicine down people's throats. His regime soon fell into tyranny, and his successor, Stalin, was definitely a tyrannical dictator.

 

When we think of dictators, we usually focus on those of the 20th century, especially the big three: Stalin, Mussolini, and, of course, Hitler. Dictatorship is not unique to the 20th century, but the advance of communication and technology has made it first more possible and secondly more complete. This completeness is totalitarianism - all aspects of life are under the control of one authority (person or party), and no opposition is allowed.

Several things are needed for to make a totalitarian state:

 

The gradual ascendance in the West of democracy has perhaps increased our awareness and dislike of dictatorships and despotism. Some Western leaders have seen democracy as a new Crusade, a creed to which to convert those in  benighted regimes. There is a striking dividing line, which can be seen here, between the economically-developed West, governed by democracy, and less economically-developed countries, susceptible to dictatorships. I shan't go on about the reasons for this, as they are fairly obvious; instead, here is a list of dictatorships and despotisms (arranged by geographical area). Profiles of dictators are still under construction.

 

The former Soviet Union

The main reason for the Russian Revolution was the autocratic rule of the Tsars.  However, old habits die hard, and the Revolution merely put in place another autocracy, under the Communists.  (Russia is rather like a beaten and abused dog which keeps returning to its owner.) Since the fall of Communism, the goings-on in the former Soviet Union have been both interesting and unpredictable, save for the sure knowledge that some nasty leader will emerge from the woodwork of whatever country. 

In Russia itself, things looked set to embrace Western ideals of liberty and democracy.  Yeltsin began to threaten people's expectations, but he was, fortunately, too drunk to be too dictatorial.  This is not the case with Vladimir Putin (who shares an uncanny resemblance to Robert Carlyle's villainous Russian in The World is not Enough:  is there something we should be told?). He's certainly not crazy, but is undoubtadly sinister, and has all sorts of mafioso sidekicks. You can read some disturbing things about Russia here.

Africa

Africa's mess is largely the Europeans' fault, but owing to post-War sensibilities about imperialism - not to mention the power of the multi-national company - European powers seem unwilling to interfere, and atrocities such as Rwanda are left to happen.

South America/ Caribbean

A good site on both South America and the Caribbean