state”, however, many other sources, including the CIA World Factbook, list North Korea as

a “one-man dictatorship”. So, what is a dictatorship? And how many countries are

still run by dictators?

A dictatorship is a form of authoritarian government in which complete power over the

people and state is held by one person or one political entity. The word is often used

interchangeably with terms like “tyranny”, “monarchy”, “totalitarianism”, “autocracy”,

“despotism”, and even sometimes with words like “republic” and “democracy”. For

example, North Korea’s full title is the “Democratic People’s Republic of North

Korea”.

Modern dictatorships hardly ever refer to themselves as such. Often, they will assume

the mask of a democracy, complete with phony elections, in order to give legitimacy to

their rule. Just look at the recent “elections” in Zimbabwe and Syria for example. Once in

power, dictators protect their station with military action, restrictions on personal

freedoms, propaganda and even state-sponsored terrorism. Hallmark signs of an authoritarian

regime include: state-controlled media, rampant corruption and cronyism, and a sizeable gap

between the wealthy elite and the poor. Often, the loose term of “dictatorship” is applied

to any country where civil liberties are suppressed, and all the power is concentrated on one leader

or a single political unit.

How many of these dictatorships exist in the world? It’s hard to say. The majority of

national governments operate on a spectrum between “constitutional democracies”,

like the United States, and complete dictatorships, like North Korea. There are many nations that

fall in between. However, the Economist Intelligence Unit estimates that as of 2014, 52 countries

are ruled by authoritarian regimes. Places like China, Cuba, Russia, Syria and Zimbabwe

are on this list. And there are many more.

Unfortunately, dictatorships grew stronger in 2014, according to a watchdog organization,

Freedom House. Their report, released in 2015, notes that more than half of the world’s

countries are considered “partly free” or “not free”, and there was an overall

decline in “global political rights and civil liberties” last year.

However, there are also studies that show most people want a government with democratic

values. In the future, trends towards globalization, higher education, and a growing middle class

may be the key to eliminating authoritarian governments once

and for all.