Talk:List of dictators

How far back are we going here? Maestro 10:34, 12 July 2007 (EDT)

---

OldRight, Can you give us some background on the dispute in WP, that may be of interest elesewhere. Thanks. RobS 10:40, 12 July 2007 (EDT)

Absolute Monarch vs. Dictator

Often confused, an absolute (non constitutional) monarch with right of ascension is distinct form a dictator, even if they behave dictatorially. All of the country, people and property, and all the laws are subjects of the monarch who may change them. Such a monarch may be ambivalent, aggressive, abusive, passive, kind, cruel, have secret police, etc, but if they are a a monarch with hereditary ascension rights, they are not a dictator. Note, much of the list, with 2-3 errors, or instance where someone has declared themselves king, refers to presidents, party secretaries, generals, prime ministers, shoguns, chancellors, etc.

It would be good to have a list of "kings behaving badly" that is distinct from dictators.

Also note, historically, rule by dictat had time limits, if not limited to life of the individual.

Please maintain the list accordingly.

Technically I think you are right but normal users understand better in a simple way. --Joaquín Martínez 00:20, 6 January 2011 (EST)

Having the right to dictate, or not having the right to dictate, that is the question. While there are real differences between monarchs and dictators as pointed out, as a free citizen the distinction is with little difference in the end when we are weighing outcomes on the scale. This is somewhat similar to people who support "democratically elected" dictators, simply because the people chose said dictatorship at the ballot box. A tyranny is a tyranny is a tyranny. Lumping them all together is a good thing, I would argue, since we don't want to be preferential of one form of tyranny over another. It is Liberty which is superior to tyranny. Anything else is simply re-arranging the deck chairs on the titanic. Progressingamerica (talk) 20:35, 2 September 2015 (EDT)

As much as I want to agree with you, unfortunately, that would also require listing Thomas Jefferson as a dictator under that same rationale (especially when there is pretty huge evidence he supported big government before FDR and Obama did). Besides, I'm not even sure liberty is even much different from tyranny, since Christopher Ferrara has actually made a point that liberty's idol worship, and ultimately leads directly to tyranny if not is one and the same. Pokeria1 (talk) 11:28, 17 December 2018 (EST)

Bush

George W. Bush satisfies all these five criteria.

• is an absolute ruler of a sovereign state;
  • Bush can do anything he wants, thanks to the PATRIOT Act and his veto
• governs outside the otherwise accepted rule of law;
  • Guantánamo Bay (locking up unconvicted alleged "terrorists" and torturing them because the area doesn't legally belong to the US and thus the basic human rights don't apply there)
• commonly (but not necessarily) gained power through fraud or a coup d'état, or resorts to them to stay in power;
  • The elections clearly weren't fair...
• may develop a cult of personality;
  • [1][2]
• may be autocratic, oppressive, despotic or tyrannical.
  • He was tyrannical/oppressive when invading and conquering Iraq.[3][4]

Also see [5] for more proof.

Liberalism 16:13, 17 July 2007 (EDT)

Are you serious? Or are you a parodist? Bohdan 16:59, 17 July 2007 (EDT)

The following message moved from my talk page. — Philip J. Rayment

What's wrong with this entry? I explained my reasons on the talk page. Liberalism 16:26, 17 July 2007 (EDT)

President Bush is not a dictator; this is merely your attempt to denigrate him. Your reasons above don't stand up to scrutiny. For example, I don't believe for one moment that President Bush is not subject to the decisions of the Supreme Court, so he can't do "anything he wants", and besides, the power of veto allows him to stop legislation he disagrees with, not to pass legislation to do "anything he wants". Philip J. Rayment 19:12, 17 July 2007 (EDT)

Dates

Since this is protected, can someone please dewikilink the dates? I know from the wantedpages that there's at least a 2004 wikilinked. (I also saw a 1982). Thanks. Jazzman831 22:19, 14 August 2007 (EDT)

• LOL! You know, I actually started to do it, but then realized it is so complicated, that I would really screw it up royally! Please, please do it....--şŷŝôρ-₮K^{Ṣρёаќǃ} 22:29, 14 August 2007 (EDT)

Can do! (Ctrl+F is my friend!) Jazzman831 22:31, 14 August 2007 (EDT)

Ok done (I think). Dunno if it still needs protected, since the person involved with the edit war is now blocked. But it's not up to me... Jazzman831 22:44, 14 August 2007 (EDT)

• Yeah, but if left open, I will wake up tomorrow and see Bush and the Pope there. Thank you so very much, Jazzman! --şŷŝôρ-₮K^{Ṣρёаќǃ} 22:50, 14 August 2007 (EDT)

Some more names

Very nice list first of all, Second thing, i think a few names in this list have been missed, from Ibn Saud to King Abdullah, all dictators of Saudi Arabia should be added here.

Although i don't think so about King Faisal who was ruler from 1964 - 1975, as he was 'anti communist', :-

http://blog.nixonfoundation.org/2010/06/thirty-six-years-ago-rn-meets-king-faisal/

But every other name should be added. Regular 07:52, 6 June 2012 (EDT)

Criteria

In common use, "dictator" means "a leader I don't like." But for a list like this we need less subjective criteria. Robespierre was just one of twelve people on the Committee of Public Safety, so I don't see a basis to include him. Egypt and many other countries have a tradition of army involvement in politics. Sadat and Mubarak were dictators only if you take multi-party democracy as the norm. PeterKa 21:27, 14 January 2014 (EST)

Add here Viktor Yanukovych

He had big wealth when he was president,he could appoint and remove from office ministres and regional heads,so we can call him absolute ruler,his house was given him illegally and he'd doing a lot of illegal operations for laundering money,so he governed outside the accepted rule of law,also he admitted in his press-conference in Rostov-on-Don that he led international troops and police units which fought against Euromaidan,so he also had kiling and tortured people,and all this if not to count lack of fair judicial system and forcible confiscation of business and a lot of another things which were did by people which came with him,so why he's not a dictator?

Quotes

I removed one quote from the Lenin section.

One of the quotes “The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them down between the millstones of taxation and inflation.” is a known fake with a long history that seems to predate Lenin. ScottH35 17:57, 20 April 2015 (EDT)

This whole page is racist

White males are not represented in their proportionate numbers. RobS^{Deep Six the Deep State!} 12:28, 17 December 2018 (EST)

And no, Latino dictators should not represented as white, per the US Census Bureau. RobS^{Deep Six the Deep State!} 12:31, 17 December 2018 (EST)