What is Dictatorship

Dictatorship:

Dictatorship was present in ancient times as well. It was present in the ancient Greek and Roman empires as well. In the case of ancient Greece, dictatorship was a formal institution where dictators held power by force. On the other hand, there was a constitutional basis for dictatorship in the Roman Empire. The modern dictatorship is a different phenomenon. The new dictators may be military leaders, party leaders or any other popular person. They may hold power by popular support as well. The phenomenon of dictatorship can be defined as “the rule of one man who exercises absolute power in the state, sometimes derived from and aided by a political party, or by a clique”. Dictatorship is the antithesis of democracy. Because Dictatorship is a government by decree rather than law.

In the same way, the dictator is not accountable to any law or parliament. He is not even responsible to the people for his actions. Besides this, there is no limitation on the duration of a dictator. He held power as long as he lived. Only overthrow by other means or the death of the dictator can limit his duration. The modern dictatorship can be classified into three types. The first is communist, the second, nationalist, and the third is fascist dictatorship. The fascist dictatorship is the worst of all.

Among the features of the dictatorship include: it is a crisis product, arbitrary exercise of power, aggressive and dynamic methods of decision-making, employment of despotic methods of political and social control, and the abolition of the constitutional or legal basis of political power. There are many defects of dictatorship as well. This includes; dictatorship regards the state as the end and the individual as the means, dictatorship is based on force and violence and not on discussion and argument, dictatorship leads to apathy in public life, fascist dictatorship spreads war and aggression, and dictatorship is not a permanent institution.

Many countries around the world have experienced the eras of dictatorships. Pakistan has also experienced military dictatorships. The first ever martial law was applied by General Ayub Khan in 1958. Then came General Zia ul Haq in 1977. General Pervez Musharraf rules the country from 1999 to 2007. Currently, Pakistan is experiencing relative democratic eras.