Hello and Welcome!

Today’s Writing Tip Topic: Dictatorships!

Told you it was coming!

A dictatorship is the hardest form of government, in my opinion, to create, because while there are three common traits of dictators, dictatorships can take very different forms.

The three common traits are very important because they will be the core of your dictatorship. Shameless pilfered from a John Oliver clip, which you can watch here, they are projecting strength, demonizing enemies, and dismantling institutions.

 {Tyrant flycatcher}

Projecting strength is all about showing off the military might and personal might of the dictator. You will see things like military parades from these dictators. Pictures of them fighting bears. And so on. This has three purposes: One, it fills the ego of the dictator. Two, it makes the idea of a rebellion seem that much harder. Three, it makes citizens feel safer. This last one may seem odd until you consider demonizing enemies.

Demonizing enemies is all about the dictator picking out (usually minorities or foreigners) and creating a threat, whether imaginary or not. Really important note: IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE IMAGINARY! A real threat is just as useful for a dictator as a fabricated one. Now, demonizing enemies is important, because it makes the citizens feel reliant on the dictator. The dictator is promising to take out the problem. This makes the world simpler and more black and white. Dictator is doing good. Threat is doing evil. Many dictators are actually well-love by a subset of their people, because they are often charismatic and provide simple solutions to hard problems.

 {Strange-tailed Tyrant}

The last is the most important: dismantling institutions. This is when a dictator takes away any checks and balances on their power. This is important for the obvious reasons. A dictator wants to keep control and the easiest way to do this is through dismantling institutions. They may keep phony versions of their dismantled institutions or they may do away with it completely.

One of the most important institutions to dismantle is the media. A state-run media is easier to control and allows the dictator to control the masses via propaganda. On the other hand, a free media can destroy a dictator’s power. A free media can tell the public, ‘hey, things aren’t going the way our dear leader told us it was.’ or ‘hey, our dear leader’s plan is stupid. Here’s ten reasons why.’  On the other hand, a state-run media allows a dictator to skirt the truth.

If you want a more in depth view on these three as well as real life examples, watch the first half of that John Oliver clip.

 {Black-capped Pygmy Tyrant}

[Tyrants! Tyrants, everywhere!]

Now the actual government system is often a dictator, his/her loyal supporters as his/her ruling class. This can be a monarchy-styled government, a false republic, or almost any type of government you want. The most widely known form of dictatorship is a military dictatorship, where the dictator is the primary ruler and his/her loyal supporters are military leaders. This allows him/her to control the population through military force and fear.

The key things to focus on are there should be no real checks and balances on the dictators power and his/her rhetoric should be about demonizing enemies and bolstering himself.

Thank you for reading! As always, writing advice is never absolute. What’s important is that you enjoy your world-building. So go out there and have some fun!