Dictatorship

A dictatorship is a form of government characterized by a leader who holds absolute or near-absolute political power. The cited article says politics are controlled by the dictator and facilitated through an inner circle of elites, including advisers, generals and other high-ranking officials, and that the dictator keeps control by appeasing that circle and repressing opposition such as rival parties, armed resistance or disloyal insiders. Dictatorships can be formed by a military coup or by a self-coup in which elected leaders make their rule permanent, and are classified as military, one-party or personalist dictatorships. The word dictator began in the early Roman Republic as a constitutional office with a temporary grant of absolute power to handle an emergency, and the article traces modern dictatorships to the nineteenth century, including Bonapartism in Europe and the caudillos of Latin America.