Dictator

Dictator - Totalitarian despot who rules preemptively and with no regard for any existing democratic structures, organs or other entities. Almost always marked by a resiliant resistance to reality and rational thought. This enables the dictator to act in a manner otherwise impossible. As such, grave human rights violations, including "rendition," torture, disappearances, pervasive surveillance and the repeal of existing human rights laws, become the norm in societies ruled by dictators. Summary execution is the punishment of choice for a wide variety of offenses, both criminal and political, under the rule of a dictator.

Notable dictators in world history have included Adolph Hitler, Chancellor of Germany from 1933-45, Josef Stalin, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1928-53, Pol Pot, head of the Khmer Rouge and ruler of Cambodia (or Kampuchea) from 1963-98, Mao Tzedong, ruler of China from 1945-76, and Islam Karimov, current ruler of Uzbekistan since 1991, Kim Jong Il of North Korea, and Muamar Ghaddafi, long-time ruler of Libya.

Some rulers take on the traits of a dictator but do not achieve complete totalitarian rule. Examples include Augusto Pinochet of Chile, and Fidel Castro of Cuba.