Dictatorship

History

The term dictator was used for the first time in ancient Rome. In times of calamities, consuls, on the recommendation of the Senate confirmed by the popular assembly (comitia curiata), appointed a dictator (with the title of magister populi) from among former consuls. Such dictators had unlimited power (imperium summum) for a limited [Page 654]period of 6 months. A dictator was first appointed in 501 BCE. In the 1st century BCE, the institution changed its character; under the dictators Lucius Cornelius Sulla (82–79 BCE) and Gaius Julius Caesar (49–44 BCE), dictatorship became the permanent rule of powerful individuals. After the abolishment of the Republic in 33 BCE, the Roman Empire became an early version of military dictatorship with the Praetorian Guard holding effective power to appoint and overthrow the emperors. Late Roman praetorianism became a prototype for the military dictatorship in modern times. The collapse of the Roman Empire resulted in the disappearance of the dictatorial system for more than 12 centuries.

The concept of dictatorship appeared in political thought in the 16th century. Niccolò Machiavelli, in the 34th chapter of Discourses, criticized the Roman dictatorship for having led to tyranny, but he advocated the idea of a dictator ruling by the will of the people to bring unity and freedom to Italy. Jean Bodin used the term dictatorship to define sovereignty, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau defined dictatorship as a system suspending the legitimate government.

Early-modern dictatorships were the result of revolutions, which abolished the monarchy but were unable to establish stable democratic governments. The rule of Oliver Cromwell in England (1649–1658) and Napoleon Bonaparte in France (1799–1814) are the best known examples of successful military commanders becoming absolute rulers due to the weakness of the democratic institutions in their respective countries and the support of the armed forces under their command. Following the national revolutions in Latin America in the early 19th century, dictatorial systems headed by military commanders (caudillos) were established, and in many countries of the region, they became the dominant pattern of government until the second half of the 20th century.

Europe faced the strongest wave of dictatorships in the first half of the 20th century. The Russian Revolution of 1917 resulted in the establishment of the first dictatorship of the Communist Party. Its ideological justification was based on the Marxist concept of the “dictatorship of the proletariat,” coined by Karl Marx but redefined by Vladimir Lenin. According to the Leninist doctrine, during the long process of constructing the communist society, power should be concentrated in the hands of the Communist Party, defined as the avant-garde of the working class.

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