Many ancient non-[[monarchial]] systems were effectively dictatorships, often under wartime conditions where a leader could fight an enemy with unchallenged power. The term is usually heard in it's modern context, where [[democracy]] and checks on power (a Council of Elders, such as the [[Senate]], [[House of Lords]], or judicial processes) exist as an alternative to absolute power by an [[Executive]].
[[Extreme Leftism]], which opposes democracy and advocates [[single party control]], fosters dictatorship. A core principle of [[Marxism]] us dictatorship, which [[Socialist]]s claim is transitory stage; however no socialist victory was was ever won without the dictatorship becoming a permanent institutional feature and leading the [[nation state]] it possesses to [[democidal]] warfare and [[economic]] ruin.
==An historical context==