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The term is frequently associated with brutality and oppression. Sometimes it is called misrule.
In the system of Roman Republic, a dictator was a person temporarily granted significant power over the state during times of war. The office was held for only 6 months. The ideal model was Cincinnatus, who according to legend, was plowing when called to dictatorship, saved Rome from invasion, and who afterwards returned to his labour, renouncing every honor and power. Other famous dictatores were Lucius Sulla and Julius Caesar. See Roman dictator and compare with imperator.
The dictatorship of the proletariat is defined by Marxist theory as the use of state power by the working class against its enemies during the passage from capitalismCapitalism generally refers to a combination of economic practices that became institutionalized in Europe between the 16th and 19th centuries. Exactly which historic and current practices are considered part of "capitalism" varies among users of the term to communismThis article is about communism as a form of society, as an ideology advocating that form of society, and as a popular movement. For issues regarding the organization of the communist movement, see the Communist party article. For issues regarding one-par, entailing control of the state apparatus and the means of productionIn Marxist economics and its contemporary derivatives, the means of production refers to physical, non-human, inputs used in production. This includes factories, machines, and tools, along with both infrastructural capital and natural capital, the classic. Though under Stalin the phrase came to be understood as a dictatorship in the name of the proletariatThe proletariat (from Latin proles offspring) is a term used to identify a lower social class; a member of such a class is called a proletarian . Originally it was identified as those people who have no other wealth than their sons; the term was initially, the original meaning was a workers' democracy where the working class would be in power, rather than the capitalist class.
In modern times, the term "dictator" is generally used to describe a leader who holds an extraordinary amount of personal power, especially the power to make laws without effective restraint by a legislative assembly. It is comparable to (but not synonymous with) the ancient concept of a tyrantA tyrant (from Greek υ) is a usurper of rightful power, possessing absolute power and ruling by tyranny. In the original Greek meaning "tyrant" carried no ethical censure, a tyrant was anyone who overturned the established government of a city-sta, although initially "tyrant," like "dictator," was not a negative term. A wide variety of people have been described as dictators, from lawfully installed government ministerA minister is a politician who heads a government ministry or department (e. education, finance, health, state, war etc. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet, usually led by a prime minister or president. The term "minister" comes from a Latin words like António de Oliveira Salazar and Engelbert Dollfuss, to unofficial military strongmen like Manuel Noriega to stratocrats like Francisco Franco and Augusto Pinochet.
In the modern definition, "dictatorship" is associated with brutality and oppression, most notoriously in the cases of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong. As a result, it is often used as a term of abuse for political oppponents; Henry Clay's dominance of the United States Congress as Speaker of the House and as a member of the U.S. Senate led to his nickname "the Dictator".
The term has also come to be associated with megalomania. Many dictators create a cult of personality and have come to favor increasingly grandiloquent titles and honors for themselves. For example, Idi Amin Dada, who had been a British army lieutenant prior to Uganda's independence from Britain in October 1962, subsequently styled himself as "His Excellency President for Life Field Marshal Al Hadji Dr. Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular". In The Great Dictator, Charlie Chaplin satirized not only Hitler but the institution of dictatorship itself.
The association between the dictator and the military is a very common one; many dictators take great pains to emphasize their connections with the military and often wear military uniforms. In some cases, this is perfectly natural; Francisco Franco was a lieutenant general in the Spanish Army before he became Chief of State of Spain, and Noriega was officially commander of the Panamanian Defense Forces. In other cases, this is mere pretense; Stalin appointed himself " Generalissimo of the Soviet Union" despite having no real military background.