What is the difference between a dictatorship and an authoritarian regime

Table of Contents Expand. What Is Totalitarianism? What Is Authoritarianism? Totalitarian vs. Authoritarian Governments. What Is Fascism? Robert Longley. History and Government Expert. Robert Longley is a U. Facebook Facebook. Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Longley, Robert. Totalitarianism, Authoritarianism, and Fascism.

Definition and Examples. What Is Communism? What Is Socialism? What Is Nationalism? Representative Democracy: Definition, Pros, and Cons. What Is Autocracy? What Is a Military Dictatorship? What Makes a Ruler a Dictator? Definition and List of Dictators. What Is Plutocracy? What Is Neoliberalism? Monarchs and Presidents of Italy From to Present. Authoritarian leaders therefore cannot afford to totally ignore mass sentiments. The goals of the masses are often diverse, but they typically center on basic needs, such as the desire for mouths to be fed, roofs to sleep under, and security.

This is not to say that mass p. When assessing how to attract the support of mass audiences, leaders and elites are strategic. They do not need all members of the citizenry to like what they are doing, just key sectors. There will always be citizens who oppose them. Authoritarian regimes have a variety of tools at their disposal to silence and sideline such individuals discussed in Chapter 7 , as well as substantial resources to do so.

This is a brief and generalized summary of the goals of the major actors in authoritarian regimes. Not all authoritarian regimes will fit this mold, but it is a reasonably accurate portrayal of broad political dynamics in many of them. An authoritarian leader is the individual at the helm of the authoritarian regime.

An authoritarian regime is a broader concept. As discussed in Chapter 1 , it consists of the basic rules whether formal and informal that control leadership choice and policies. But other times multiple leaders come and go during the lifetime of a single regime, such as in the Soviet Union. It is important to differentiate authoritarian leaders from authoritarian regimes for two reasons.

Though in some contexts the locus of power in the authoritarian regime is firmly in the hands of the leader, such as in Belarus under Alexander Lukashenko, in others leaders must share power with other members of the leadership group. To be clear, leaders nearly always wield disproportionately more power than elites do, but in some authoritarian environments this is more lopsided than in others.

A focus on authoritarian leadership that ignores the broader concept of the authoritarian regime will miss these key variations. Second, and in a somewhat similar vein, authoritarian regimes often last much longer than the tenure of any single leader.

Despite this, observers often assume that the fall of the leader implies the fall of the regime. A group of Muslim clerics assumed control afterward, bringing to power a radically different group of elites and rules and norms for selecting leaders and policies.

This paved the way for democratic elections held the following year. Despite these famous cases, only half of all authoritarian leadership transitions result in authoritarian regime change a dynamic discussed in greater detail in Chapter 8. The rest of the time, the leader leaves power but the regime remains intact. General Than Shwe, also a military officer and member of the State Law and Order Restoration Council elite, replaced him soon thereafter.

The same group of elites controlled Myanmar despite the leadership transition; there was no change in regime. Intraregime leadership changes, it turns out, are quite common. The frequency with which authoritarian leaders leave power without destabilizing the regimes they once led suggests that conflating authoritarian leaders with authoritarian regimes p.

This is important because it suggests that international efforts to destabilize dictatorships, pressure them to democratize, or otherwise change their behavior that focus on the leader as the unit of analysis may fail to bring about the intended effects. Authoritarian regimes and authoritarian spells are also distinct units of analysis.

An authoritarian spell is a single continuous span of authoritarian governance. Just as authoritarian leaders can rise and fall within the same authoritarian regime, authoritarian regimes can rise and fall within the same authoritarian spell.

As an example, Nicaragua experienced a single authoritarian spell from to , meaning that it had an authoritarian political system throughout the entire period. During this time, however, there were two unique authoritarian regimes. The first was the regime of the Somoza family, which governed Nicaragua from to The Somozas whether directly or informally were in charge of allocating political posts, doling out state resources, and managing the security sector.

The leadership group consisted of members of the family, as well as a selection of their allies. Many erstwhile supporters of the Somoza regime went into exile, while supporters of the FSLN found themselves in positions of power. The top leaders of the FSLN became the top leaders of the regime. Though these two regimes in Nicaragua are different from each other, they occurred during the same authoritarian spell.

A single authoritarian regime governed Brazil during this period, and the country was democratic both before and after it. To control is not enough; to win is not enough; to dominate is not enough: none of that is experienced as enough. Authoritarian parenting is an extremely strict parenting style.

It places high expectations on children with little responsiveness. As an authoritarian parent, you focus more on obedience, discipline, control rather than nurturing your child. They expect the child not to make mistakes and to obey them. Personality tests that are based on this model measure where an individual lies on the spectrum of each of the five traits.

Being honest and taking responsibility for your actions are admirable qualities. Adaptability and compatibility are great traits that can help you get along with others. Drive and determination will help you keep going no matter what. Compassion and understanding mean you relate well to others. She is a naturally nice person and she gets along great with everyone.

She is always on good terms with everyone she meets because of her nice personality. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Press ESC to cancel.

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