Authors: Bobbio, Matteucci, Pasquino
Summary: The entry begins by describing the concept of dictatorship in the Roman Republic and then in modern times. It suggests a typology of dictatorship and contrasts it with other regimes.
The term originated from the Roman dictatura : an extraordinary office that could be set in motion to cope with an emergency such as war or insurrection. The Roman dictator had wide powers but strict time limits-not more than six months. The common feature of the Roman and modern dictatorships is the absolute nature of the dictator's power; but unlike modern dictatorship, the Roman one was constitutionally provided. Today, the term is widely applied to both non-democratic and anti-democratic regimes. The entry briefly distinguishes among such regimes: despotism, defined as unlimited monarchy; absolutism, European unlimited monarchies in the framework of the modern state; autocracy, absolutism at the highest level, with extensive personalization of power; authoritarianism, a sub-class of non-democratic modern regimes distinguished from totalitarianism.
The entry notes three main features of modern dictatorships: the concentration and limitlessness of power, such that dictatorial government stands above the law and carries out its will in law; populist politics, in which large segments of the population begin to engage in political activity; and the problem of legitimation and succession, since dictatorships are inherently precarious and difficult to institutionalize.
To develop a typology of dictatorships, the entry considers the nature of the regime's power (authoritarian or totalitarian dictatorship); its aim (revolutionary or reactionary dictatorship); the characteristics of the ruling elite (military, political, or bureaucratic dictatorship); and the dictatorship's social basis (sociological or technical dictatorship).
The entry closes by considering the Marxist dictatorship of the proletariat. This concept does not refer to a political regime, but to the relation between two social and economic classes.