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an authoritarian form of government, characterized by a single leader or group of leaders with either no party or a weak party, little mass mobilization, and limited political pluralism.

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Dictators come to power for a number of reasons or social problems such as massive unemployment, inflation, and unrest among the population.

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Dictators who stayed in office for a long period of time found it increasingly difficult to carry out sound economic policies.

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Cheating is a common trait of a dictator. How do they cheat? It's common for dictators to be ''voted'' into their position. They oftentimes hold fake elections so that the world will think that they are having a fair election. The problem is that citizens are forced to vote for the dictator due to fear that they could be punished if they voted for anyone else.

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Dictatorship didn't start off as a bad thing. During the Roman Empire, a dictator would come in when there was a crisis, typically military, that needed to be taken care of. The dictator would be given extreme power to help solve the immediate crisis.

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When dictators take control, they often call themselves president or prime minister and change the entire political system that has been in place. To maintain control, dictators use terror and intimidation to keep citizens from standing up against them. They will raise taxes, change laws, and oftentimes take everyday human rights away from citizens.

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Unfortunately, throughout world history, leaders took this form of dictatorship and used it to take power and control in very cruel ways. For example, Adolf Hitler of Germany is known for having 6 million Jewish people sent to concentration camps and killed during World War II.

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Dictators normally need to do a number of things to put in place their dictatorships: they need to get rid of their opponents (which may be political or religious) - some are imprisoned, exiled (sent outside their country) or killed.

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Dictators are normally backed by powerful groups, such as landowners, private company owners, bank owners and in some cases institutions like the Roman Catholic Church to put in place law and order by force.

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As of 2018, there are a total of 49 nations that have a dictator or authoritarian regime ruling the nation.

Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan

Bahrain, Belarus, Brunei, Burundi

Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Republic of Congo, Cuba

Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia

Gabon

Iran, Iraq

Kazakhstan

Laos, Libya

Mauritania

North Korea

Oman

Qatar

Russia, Rwanda

Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria

Tajikistan, Thailand, Tibet, Turkey, Turkmenistan

United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan

Venezuela, Vietnam

Western Sahara

Yemen

Zimbabwe

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Whatever their form, these dictatorships had an adverse impact on economic growth and the quality of political institutions.

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Some dictators have included-

Adolf Hitler - Germany

Benito Mussolini - Italy

Francisco Franco - Spain

Augusto Pinochet - Chile

Jorge Rafael Videla - Argentina

Muammar al-Gaddafi - Libya

Bashar al-Assad - Syria

Kim Jong-Il - North Korea

Dictator Muhammad Ayub Khan - Pakistan

Oliver Cromwell - England, Scotland, Ireland

Pak Chŏng Hŭi - South Korea

Joseph Stalin - U.S.S.R

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Pak Chŏng Hŭi - South Korea

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Adolf Hitler- Germany

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Right after the end of World War II, with a more relaxed political and social climate, several studies regarding the classification of various forms of government have been conducted.

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Some elected presidents and prime ministers captured power by suppressing the opposition and installing one-party rule and others established military dictatorships through their armies.

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These constitutions often failed to work without a strong middle class or work against the preexisting autocratic rule.

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After World War II, dictators established themselves in the several new states of Africa and Asia, often at the expense or failure of the constitutions inherited from the colonial powers.

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A democracy is a government run by the people. Each citizen has a say (or vote) in how the government is run. This is different from a monarchy or dictatorship where one person (the king or dictator) has all the power.

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A direct democracy is one in which every citizen votes on all important decisions. One of the first direct democracies was in Athens, Greece. All of the citizens would gather to vote in the main square on major issues. A direct democracy becomes difficult when the population grows. Imagine the 300 million people of the United States trying to get together in one place to decide an issue. It would be impossible.

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The other type of democracy is a representative democracy. This is where the people elect representatives to run the government. Another name for this type of democracy is a democratic republic. The United States is a representative democracy. The citizens elect representatives such as the president, members of congress, and senators to run the government.

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Citizens Rule- We've already discussed this in the definition of democracy. The power of the government must rest in the hands of the citizens either directly or through elected representatives.

Free elections - Democracies conduct free and fair elections where all citizens are allowed to vote how they want.

Majority rule with Individual rights - In a democracy, the majority of the people will rule, but the rights of the individual are protected. While the majority may make the decisions, each individual has certain rights such as free speech, freedom of religion, and protection under the law.

Limitations on Lawmakers - In a democracy there are limits placed on the elected officials such as the president and the congress. They only have certain powers and also have term limits where they are only in office for so long.

Citizen participation - The citizens of a democracy must participate for it to work. They must understand the issues and vote. Also, in most democracies today, all citizens are allowed to vote. There are no restrictions on race, gender, or wealth as there was in the past.