The Pros And Cons Of Dictatorship

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Dictatorship is defined by Merriam Dictionary as “A government or country in which total power is held by a dictator or a small group of people”. “The term dictatorship comes from the Latin title dictator, which in Roman Republic designated a temporary magistrate who was granted extraordinary powers in order to deal with state crisis. Modern dictators however, resemble ancient tyrants rather than ancient dictators.” (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013). There are two definitions of a dictator, the modern and the roman dictator. Roman dictators are men appointed by the senate who help the position of ruler that held absolute power for six months at a time or shorter in cases of national emergency. The dictator could not also forcefully…show more content…
This means that the dictator is the one who makes decisions that will affect the state without having to consult any other branches of the state. (Kasza, n.d.). The Romans expelled their kings since they were aware of the problems of letting a single person hold absolute power for life. This is why they created consulship. Consuls however cancel each other out because of different thoughts. It was not the most ideal type of government during a state of crisis so they decided to develop a temporary position that held absolute power in cases of national emergency which is the dictator. (Gill, 2017). Modern dictators usually resort to violence and fraud to gain the power of dictators which they maintain through the use of intimidation, terror and suppression. They may also use techniques of mass propaganda to sustain the public support. (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013). Some dictators came from power through elections and during state of crisis like ancient dictators (Freeman, 2008). In the book The Republic by Plato he stated that the ruler must be a…show more content…
Dictatorship however, often becomes tyranny instead of monarchy since the ruler is absorbed by greed for power and wealth often forgetting why they are placed on being the dictator with absolute power. An example of this is Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler was appointed head of government by President Hindenburg in 1933. (Freeman, 2008) After The President died Hitler made himself President and abused his powers. Another example of this is Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon Bonaparte is considered as the first modern dictator by many historians since he became a dictator during a state of emergency but later abolished the senate and crowned himself as the emperor of the new empire he had built from monarchy. He created a balanced budget, reformed the government and wrote the civil code that is still being used in France up to this day. Napoleon however controlled every facet of government and had a network of spies but was forced to abdicate the throne by the French Army when he failed to invade Russia. (Freeman,
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