In this article you will learn about the Meaning of Dictatorship in Political Science.
Meaning of Dictatorship
Dictatorship is a form of government in which a ruler exercises excessive or unlimited authority. Its alternative name is Authoritarian Government or Autocracy. In it, a person comes to power either through legal means as Hitler did, or by some illegal means or a revolution, and begins exercising power in an ‘illegal’ or unlimited way. He rules by his own will and is limited only by his own will. He is responsible and answerable to himself and not to the people.
“Dictatorship is an authoritarian and irresponsible system of governance in which the ruler i.e. the executive dominates the legislature and the judiciary. Under it, little respect is given to the rights and freedoms of the people.”
In other words, ‘Dictatorship means absolute rule of a single person who usurps power and exercises it in an autocratic way’. He is neither responsible nor accountable or answerable to the people or any other popular institution. He may or may not wear a crown, he may or may not proclaim as he deems fit but he always dominates all decision-making. He can use any ideology or an ideological principle to justify his rule. Sometimes, he gets himself elected as the Head or the President of the state just as General Zia-ul-Haq and Gen Musharraf did after forcibly usurping power in Pakistan. This was done projecting their rule as a rule based on widespread popular consent. A dictator uses ‘election’ as a means to camouflage his illegally captured authority as legitimate authority. He often uses an ideology or ideological principle to rule and project the legitimacy of the rule which is in reality illegitimate. His power to rule actually depends upon his ability to use force and manipulations for maintaining himself in power.
We can define Dictatorship as has been done by Alfred Cobban. “Dictatorship is a government of one man who has not obtained his position by inheritance but by either force or consent or manipulated consent, or a combination of both. Dictatorship means coming into power by force and then securing popular consent through manipulated elections or coming to power through legal means but establishing an autocratic or authoritarian rule by trampling the opponents and establishing a personal autocratic rule.”
Dictatorship is a system of authoritarian or autocratic rule. A dictator exercises an unlimited power of governance. He dominated all decision-making. In fact, laws reflect his will and these are made and enforced arbitrarily. All political authority emanates from his will and it is unlimited in scope. His authority is unrestrained by law and is exercised for a very long time i.e., so long as he lives or so long as he is not overthrown by another dictator or by a revolution or a coup.
“Arbitrary exercise of unlimited power is the main property of Dictatorship.” General Franco of Spain was a dictator and so were Hitler, Mussolini, Idi Amin, Ayub Khan, Salazar, Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf.
This article on Meaning of Dictatorship in Political Science is contributed by Dipshikha Anand. If you like LawStudyPoint.com do follow us on our Twitter handle.