Dictatorship is one of the forms of government systems , which occupied an important part of the activity of the ruling political authority in the modern era. It included different countries, and one of the options imposed in some developing countries, in particular, still derives its realistic legitimacy from their social and political suffering and crises, and it has found its historical roots in the ancient Roman system.. It is a political term, describing the system of government, in which power is concentrated in the hands An individual ruler who assumes power without heredity , by force, or assuming it in a democratic way, which later leads to the concentration of power in his hand. He exercises it according to his will, dominates the legislative and executive authorities, and dictates his will on political, economic and social decisions, without there being real control over the performance of his regime or political opposition in society.
And power in a dictatorial regime is based on the de facto rather than the texts, and in the case of texts, they are applied in a spirit other than that dictated by them, and we may not see the way to the application. As there are many democracies, so have many dictatorships. Some of them are ideological or military dictatorships, some are based on one party, some have reactionary conservative directives, and others are progressive and revolutionary. Dictatorship may be exercised by an individual or a body, but the main feature that distinguishes it is its authoritarian essence.
What distinguishes dictatorship from tyrannical regimes is that it is an organized tyranny that has its own constitution and laws. It arose in the arms of the phenomenon of political tyranny that prevailed historically, especially in the Roman Empire, which witnessed the birth of dictatorship in its old meaning and image, with the transfer of the king’s authority to two rulers elected by the Senate , each named (consul) or dictator, for a specific period of 6 months to one year .
The dictatorship that arose in the Roman era is a constitutional function, exercised by whomever is chosen by the Senate, temporarily, to protect the state [R], in exceptional circumstances, in the name of the integrity of its borders and interests. Dictatorship with a number of facts surrounding the Romanian state, the most important of which are:
1- The failure of the absolute monarchy system, the disintegration of the authority and its inability to respond to the existing challenges.
The emergence of internal social and economic crises.2
3 The beginning of the aspirations of the ruling classes towards expansion outside the borders of the state.
The effects of the theory of power, which bases the ruler’s authority on the right of the most powerful to impose his will on the weak, has continued until today in its various manifestations, including the dictatorial regime.
The influence of Enlightenment ideas led to the French Revolution in 1789. against tyranny. And preaching calls for freedom and human rights. However, this revolution quickly set back, and in 1793 AD, the revolution turned towards dictatorship and tyranny at the hands of the Jacobins and Robespierre, who based their political thought on the doctrine of the homeland in danger, public safety, and the nation under arms and under the slogan of virtue and morals. Robespierre practiced his bloody terror that later paved the way for the emergence of Napoleon.
In the nineteenth century, German thought was witnessing the repercussions of the French Revolution, at the hands of its sons, and renewing itself in opposition to the ideas of the philosophers of the Enlightenment, calling for the glorification of the role of the state, and inciting nationalism. It paved the way for the establishment of the two most famous dictatorships after the First World War. The two are Hitler’s Nazism, and Mussolini’s Fascism. From the Hegelian left, and the criticism of Hegel’s ideas, Marxism arose, and with it the category of the dictatorship of the proletariat appeared.
Contents
- Factors behind the emergence of dictatorships
- Characteristics of a dictatorial regime
- Types of traditional dictatorships
- proletarian dictatorship
- Date
- 1930 and 1940
- In the period between the two world wars
- After World War II
- dictatorship patterns
- Some characteristics of dictatorship and dictatorship
- Anti-dictatorship
- see also
- Additional readings
- Sources
- the reviewer
Factors of the emergence of dictatorships
There are multiple and overlapping factors and reasons, differing according to the objective conditions surrounding countries that lived under a dictatorial regime, and most of them overlap in reality. However, several common core factors can be identified:
1- Popular disappointment: This is what happened in some countries of Europe, after the First World War. The war left devastating effects, economic ruin, and national futility, all of which led to crises that democratic regimes were unable to confront with the required speed and provide effective solutions, in addition to the political rivalries and partial differences that marred these regimes, which were reflected in the disintegration of national unity and the instability of their governments. This is what made the people accept dictatorship because of its speed of performance in dealing with stifling crises, and the government stability it achieves.
2- The inadequacy of the democratic system to the level of social and political development: This factor emerged in some European countries and Latin America, which borrowed the democratic system from England, France and the United States, after the First World War. Those countries failed to implement this system, which paved the way for the establishment of dictatorships in them, under the pretext of misusing the freedom granted by the system, and misapplying democracies, due to political immaturity and low popular awareness. This is what happened in the countries of Central Europe, the Baltic countries and the countries of Latin America in that historical period.
3- A state of war and crises: War creates a state of necessity, which politically leads to the establishment of a strong government that works to ward off dangers. Such a government acquires a dictatorial character from the exceptional powers and mandates it obtains as a result of emergency and emergency situations. It is assumed that these powers and mandates will disappear, with the end of the state of war, as normal conditions return, and the country will return to its constitutional status in terms of the validity of the powers and the separation between them. However, a number of cases showed that the war may leave huge problems that the democratic system, with its traditions and slow procedures, is unable to solve, which leads to the continuation of the state of necessity and the maintenance of the dictatorial situation. The events in several countries indicated that it is not only the state of war that paves the way for the establishment of a dictatorial regime, but also the mere preparation for war.
4- Revolutionary or revolutionary movements: popular revolutions, or some military coups, resort to justifying their motives and identifying them in national, national and social reasons.. that require a change in the political and social system, and until the situation stabilizes, they seek to establish a realistic government, characterized by being temporary and a government Concentration of power, combining the legislative and executive powers in its grip. Until it drafts a new constitution that meets its aspirations, and therefore it is always a dictatorial government. It is either the dictatorship of an individual (Franco’s dictatorship), or the dictatorship of a body or group, as happened in France after the revolution of 1848 or the revolution of 1870 AD.
5- Achieving independence and political and social liberation: Issues of preserving the independence of the state and social and economic liberation from imperial colonial domination contributed to the explosion of events that led to political changes that took the form of military coups or popular revolutions, especially in the newly independent developing countries. Variables The emergence of dictatorial governments and authorities, whether the dictatorship of an individual, a body or a party.
In the context of international conflict, after World War II, dictatorships and military regimes were established under the pretext of fighting communism, or facing the dangers of leftist and progressive activities. The peoples of developing countries often accepted, at the outset, to waive their basic rights and freedoms, in return for their bet on the dictatorship of revolutions in order to achieve their political, social and economic project.
Characteristics of a dictatorial regime
Despite the plurality and difference of dictatorial regimes, in terms of means and goals, there are common characteristics that distinguish them from others, the most important of which are:
1- Changing the constitution and the foundations of the system: most dictatorships, when they seize power by force and violence, aim to change the foundations of the system they overturned, and this requires a constitutional change that is reflected in the shape of the political system, and a change in political and economic directives.
2- Dictatorship of a temporary nature: When dictatorial regimes seize power by force and without constitutional means, especially through a military coup, they declare that their procedures related to suspending or changing the constitution, and blocking individual and public liberties, represent a temporary stage to cross to the next stage. , more stable, affluent and free. And that this temporary phase is subject to exceptional circumstances the country is going through.
3- Dictatorship is a totalitarian system: this means that the state’s authority extends to all aspects of an individual’s activity or life in society. Nothing is related to the individual, whether his freedoms, rights or beliefs. It should be exercised away from the authority of the state that represents society, as the state is a bloc that does not accept the separation of powers. It is an absolute and total political authority. There is no opinion in the dictatorship outside the state’s thought, and no individual right is superior to the state, and freedoms are considered a grant from it to individuals decided for the public interest.
4- Dictatorship is a central authority: the dictator tends to concentrate all powers in his hand, especially the institutions and authorities that are the mainstay of the system. He is:
A- He strengthens his dominance over the military institution, as it is the source of danger to his regime.
B – He dominates the security services, and expands their activities and powers.
C- Using the media as a propaganda device for its goals and actions. And subject thought to his beliefs and opinions.
D – Concentrating and managing the economy, so that the dictator is the center of direction and decision in economic activity.
E. Preventing opposition to his plans and ideas, even if they come from his aides and loyalists.
5- Dictatorship is based on the method of force and violence: Whether the dictator came to power through a military coup or the popular revolutionary movement, violence and the use of force are his way, regardless of the goal he seeks. Martial law is often the regime’s means to suppress dissent and justify violence and imprisonment.
6- Dictatorship takes the one-party system: the dictator establishes his relations with the people through the political party loyal to him, and through it establishes a political society in the country he rules, and he can control it as he wants. There are two models of the one-party system.
Types of traditional dictatorships
There are different forms of dictatorships in the modern era, but they can be included in the framework of three types:
1- Dictatorships of an ideological nature: they are dictatorships that are based on ideological and political doctrines, which see that the freedom of the individual is inseparable from the freedom of society, and that society is one body and not just a number of individuals, and the individual has no rights except as a member of social organizations in society. These doctrines reinforce the tendency of greatness and the embodiment of heroism in the dictator to become the leader and leader of the nation.
2- Dictatorships that are not based on ideological foundations: they can be described as de facto dictatorships, which are imposed by military force, and are not based on an intellectual or philosophical ground by virtue of their policies. Rather, it comes to power in the context of a social or political crisis that leads to a weakening of the existing authority.
3- Nationalist dictatorships (reformist and revolutionary): After World War I, the world witnessed the emergence of national conflicts that led to military coups in various countries, especially in Europe. The struggle against colonialism and the activity of the national liberation movement after World War II recorded the emergence of government-oriented regimes. A revolutionary libertarian, which has taken on a dictatorial character, as it is one of the requirements of the process of revolutionary transformation and confronting the interests of colonialism. Models can be identified in the three continents.
Dictatorship of the proletariat
Marx believes that the power in the stage of transition from capitalist society to socialist society, to communism, is the authority of the proletariat, and this authority at this stage is called the “dictatorship of the proletariat.” According to Marx’s theory, it falls within the scope of the inevitability and historical necessity of social development, from the era of capitalism to the era of socialism. and communism. Because the state is an instrument of oppression by one class against the other. In the capitalist system it is in the hands of the bourgeoisie [R] against the working class. In a socialist society, however, it should be a tool of repression in the hands of the workers against the bourgeoisie class, and its means of revolutionary violence to eliminate the foundations of the capitalist system. This argument led to the emergence of socialist regimes in the Soviet Union (formerly) and the socialist countries of Europe, and from it emerged the systems of people’s democracies [R] that translated the constitutional, legal and political dimensions of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
History
1930 and 1940
In the period between the two world wars
During that period, a number of political regimes appeared that were described by the liberals as dictatorial, such as the fascist regimes in Italy and Germany and the communist regime in the former Soviet Union . Those regimes, according to the liberals , were characterized by the characteristics of dictatorship, such as the one-party system, the mobilization of the masses by the ideology of the ruling regime, control The media must turn it into a mouthpiece for propaganda in favor of the regime, direct the economic and social activity of the masses in an ideological direction in favor of the ruling regime, and arbitrarily use the power of the security services in order to intimidate the citizens.
After World War II
The liberals believe that the dictatorship after the end of the Second World War has become a prominent feature in many of the newly independent third world countries , whose forms of government were predominantly military in nature, and the countries with communist and socialist regimes were also considered dictatorships from the point of view of the liberals.
They protested against this due to the lack of political stability in many of these countries and the prevalence of military coups and political turmoil in them, as well as the emergence of problems related to the issue of succession to power.
Dictatorship Patterns
- individual dictatorship. It is the total domination of an individual over the components of the state, dependent on the military power of the state. By the elements he means (land, wealth , people , rule), and often the dictator imagines himself here as having a spiritual connection with God who inspires him what he should do, or that he imagines himself that he is God, and therefore surrounds himself with an aura of immunity and infallibility.
- Collective dictatorship. And be shedding a group on the components of the state.
And both of the previous two types may be in the state with the nature of ownership, or the state of the nature of the republic. The monarchy differs from the republic by imposing the sanctity of the ruling family on the people and claiming absolute immunity for it. The social nature of dictatorship appears in backward and advanced societies as well. However, in backward societies, society bears the greatest amount of industrialization of that tyranny as a result of social isolation and clan and tribal fanaticism. In advanced societies, tyranny and conscious tyranny occur for many reasons, including:
Some features of dictatorship and dictatorship
- Suppression of the people at home, and waging wars on the neighbourhood.
- Keeping the people on ignorance and backwardness until they continue in their position, and adapting and developing sciences in line with their ideology.
- The formation of the people in a certain mold, and their domestication according to a certain ideology.
- Fighting logic and expiation.
- Preoccupying the people with an imaginary or mythical enemy, or deluding them into an enemy and making them excited against this enemy.
- Exploiting religion to establish his rule.
- Keeping the people in a state of perpetual poverty and destitution, so that the people toil and be preoccupied with the demand for a living than the request for the presidency.
- Spreading vice and immorality in society.
- The dismantling of the family and tribal society.
- Building a strong and active intelligence apparatus that permeates the people.
Anti-dictatorship
- The existence of a tight and comprehensive constitution for the state.
- Building the state according to independent institutions.
- Educate the people and release freedom of education and expression.
Works Consulted
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