How do dictatorships survive in the modern world?

Dictatorships all started a very long time ago. However, there are still a lot of dictatorships happening in the status quo, and overall in the 21st century. It even said that “global politics hit a major milestone” in the era. For the first time, the number of democracies in the world surged past the tally of authoritarian states. However, if we dig deeper, how exactly do these dictatorships survive in the modern world?

One strategy or method that modern dictators used is “spin,” which can also be seen as image control. Older dictators relied more on fear and violence; examples of these characters are Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Idi Amin, and Saddam Hussein. These people were extremely violent and because of this violence and the power they held, people were scared to make their move and oppose what they said. They feared that they might either be brutally executed, or face punishments for both them and their family, if they decided to believe what they wanted to. An example of this might be how Joseph Stalin used to very publicly kill or imprison his opponents because he wanted to be scared of him in the past. On the other hand, modern dictators like Vladimir Putin are often more secretive and subtle about how they remove their rivals. They often use forms of control like trickery, deception, or control of information. They’re also very much different from past dictators because they often try to bribe their rivals instead of killing them. This is a much more efficient way to make sure more people are on their side because instead of people being threatened to take the dictator’s side, they would be convinced from their heart and would want to be on the dictator’s side. It gets rid of rivals without needing to kill them. 

Another way that modern dictators retain power is by winning elections by manipulating the election systems. While it may not seem so easy to change the number of votes directly, there are times when the dictators are sneaky enough to control the amount of votes they and their opponent receive, causing them to win the election at the end of the day. Other methods are more subtle. For example, a certain dictator might control the media to make sure that the media only says good things about them and bad things about their rivals so that they can win the election. A more detailed example of this kind of figure is Kim Jong Un, who is a brutal leader but still cares about his image. In recent films, he was wearing fancy clothes and modern-looking sunglasses, and even started putting his daughter into films with him. This suggests that he wants to look like a kind “family man,” and could suggest that he doesn’t want to rule his country with fear anymore. Like we can see from these examples, there are many differences between the dictators in the past and more modern dictators.

Additionally, modern dictators can also use public support to protect their power. Some dictators are very popular and famous, often because they have improved the country little by little after all those years of being a dictator. These famous dictators have a high chance of winning elections against their opponents very easily, due to all of the attention and fame they’ll be getting from the citizens. In many cases, they wouldn’t even have to cheat in elections! However, still, some dictators manage to cheat so that they can seem even more popular. One example is Russia - Vladimir Putin is popular among the Russian people, but still cheats in elections so he seems like he is so popular and powerful that no one would have the courage to oppose him at all. Other dictators try to create a “cult of personality” which will help the dictator look like a superhuman or even a god. This will make people and citizens love and very much respect the dictators and will be terrified to oppose them.

Overall, dictatorships can survive the modern world using these tactics to help them gain respect and generally win against their opponent. There are many more ways that dictatorships can survive, but these are the main few that many of them use commonly even in the status quo.