Tyranny

A form of dictatorial, one-person government characterized by injustice and lack of respect for the rights of individual citizens. Tyranny frequently arises out of dissension as another social system is either disinte-grating or experiencing internal strife. The potential tyrant may be part of the existing aristocracy and may endeavor to seize control during a power struggle with his or her peers. A tyrant may also be a popular leader or demagogue who already has some support from the masses. In either case, the tyrant helps to overthrow the existing regime and replace it with one-person rule. Tyrants are not subject to checks and balances from other parts of the government and may ignore or reject a previously existing constitution. The tyrant's rule is absolute.

The tyrannical ruler recognizes that he needs a base of support and protection from enemies. He will attempt to please a segment of the population large enough to ensure that his rule will continue unchecked. To gain such support, he maintains a group of loyal and powerful supporters, whom he rewards richly but fundamentally distrusts and keeps at an appropriate distance. As the supporters are entrusted with maintaining his rule, the tyrant will choose to surround himself with powerful, wealthy nobles or military forces. His rule is not based upon a social contract or the consent of the governed; people obey because of fear of punishment.

The tyrant's rule may enjoy broad-based support despite the autocratic nature of his regime, but more often he is despotic and controls the population through propaganda, repression, or fear. He controls political speech (by preventing the formation of a popular representative body) and the media. The citizens' basic civic rights are nonexistent; their human rights are subject to abuse if they are perceived to be enemies of the regime. The tyrannical leader frequently employs a network with secret police, spies, or informers that can be used to find, intimidate, or harm would-be resisters. Moreover, the population living under tyranny is frequently impoverished. Poverty (often induced through taxation) is both a form of control and a means to pay for wars or the tyrant's own private goods.

The tyrant is at all times conscious of the fragility of his regime and uses specific tactics to keep it afloat. He frequently participates in or instigates wars, which simultaneously distract the citizens from domestic problems and keep them preoccupied and prevented from organizing against the ruler. War also ensures that the environment remains unstable and the people continue to feel a need for a leader. To these ends, tyrants may actively cultivate fear of foreign powers and fear of anarchy, leading the populace to the conclusion that tyrannical rule is better than anarchy or domination. Tyrannical rule relies on both domestic and international insecurity and the fear it creates.