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Dictatorship

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Ammar Ashfaq
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18 views3 pages

Dictatorship

Uploaded by

Ammar Ashfaq
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Introduction:

Dictatorship is defined as the rule of one man who exercises absolute power in the State,
sometimes derived political party, or by a clique. It is an antithesis to democracy. Because
dictatorship is, firstly, government by decree rather than by law, secondly, the dictator is not
accountable before any parliament or representative body and thirdly, there is no limitation on
the duration of the dictator's authority. He holds power till he dies or is overthrown.

Modern Dictatorship:
Modern dictatorships can be classified into three distinct types: They are communist,
nationalist and fascist dictatorships. This dictatorship arose during the First World War (1914-
18). First of all arose the Communist Dictatorship in Russia in 1917, then in 1921 Kemal
Ataturk established a nationalist dictatorship in Turkey. Soon after, in 1922, Benito Mussolini
established his Fascist dictatorship in Italy. Communism is still prevailing in China and some
other countries.

Features of Dictatorship:
As distinguished from democracy or constitutional form of government, dictatorship, both
ancient and modern, possesses some characteristic features. They are as follows:

1. It is a crisis product
All kinds of dictatorships are products of crisis, whether it is due to constitutional, political,
social, economic or religious reasons. Inability of the democracy to function properly and
internal weakness are undoubtedly the main causes of the establishment of the modern
dictatorial rule. Most of the modern dictatorships arise during a national crisis which a strong
man, a military leader, or a leader of a political party or clique or group believes he can resolve
successfully. Once in power, the dictator continues to stick to power till death or when
overthrown-by a new dictator or by the people revolting against him as they did against Ayyub
Khan in Pakistan in 1969.

2. Aggressive and Dynamic methods of Decision-making


Decisions and policies in dictatorship are very aggressively and dynamically implemented.
This is, really, one of the reasons why dictatorship is often more successful than democracy,
but only for a few years.

3. Despotic methods of Political and Social Control


Dictators employ force, terror and propaganda to make people obey their decisions, laws and
policies. Political parties are banned; newspapers are suppressed, and civil liberties or
fundamental rights are done away with.

4. Abolition of Constitutional or Legal basis of Political Power

By its very nature, dictatorship means a system of government which has acquired power by
unconstitutional and illegal methods. The first thing a dictator does is to abolish the constitution
or to restrict its application. Sometimes, he issues a new constitution of his own devising so as
to legalize his rule.

De Merits of Dictatorship:

1. Dictatorship focuses on State rather than Individuals.

Dictatorship is totalitarian; it controls everything and regulates every activity of the individual
and the society. It is authoritarian, for it provides unlimited and absolute power to the State
over the citizens and society. Really, dictatorship makes no distinction between the State and
the society. The individual has no life and no rights of his own apart from what the State gives
him.

2. Dictatorship is based on Force and Violence and not on Discussion and Argument.

Dictatorship forces conformity and uniformity of opinion among them. Disagreement with the
government is regarded as a sin in dictatorship and suppressed without mercy. Dictatorship
leads to apathy in public life. As no opposition and criticism of the government is permitted or
tolerated under the dictatorship, the people become indifferent and apathetic to the affairs of
the State. In dictatorship the people are asked not to think but to obey the Leader and follow
him blindly to wherever he leads them.

3. Dictatorship is not a Permanent Institution.

Dictatorship lasts so long as the dictator lives or keeps himself in power. Fascist dictatorship
not only lives by the sword but perishes by the sword. It is destroyed by the fires of the war it
has itself kindled. The history of the nationalist and communist dictatorships is, however, not
much different.

Merits of Dictatorship

1. It makes Government Strong.


Dictatorship is claimed as the regime of a "strong man who gets things done. The reason is that
it is a centralized government, in which no opposition parties are allowed and no criticism is
permitted. All energies of the State are concentrated on the achievement of aims and ideals for
which the dictatorship stands. The dictator gives a strong and efficient government to the
country he rules Hence dictatorship possesses vigour and energy.

2. It makes Effective Administration.

Dictatorship is strong and more efficient than democracy in handling emergencies. Democracy
works by committees, discussions, parliamentary debates, persuasion and compromise. Hence
it takes democracy long to decide a question and execute decision. It seems to be particularly
slow when an emergency or a crisis demands a quick decision and prompt action: A dictator,
on the contrary, needs no committee, no parliament and no opponents to persuade convince or
compromise. He, therefore, meets an emergency with a firm and quick decision and prompt
execution.

Conclusion:

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