Right-wing dictatorship

A right-wing dictatorship (sometimes also referred to as a rightist dictatorship) is an authoritarian regime whose policy could be called rightist.

There are various definitions of the term "rightist." The broadest one includes all dictatorships that do not consider themselves communist. Those are usually pro-capitalist in economic matters and conservative in ideological ones.

The term fascist dictatorship is sometimes used (mostly by its opponents) interchangeably with the right-wing one. It is commonly accepted that Germany and Italy were ruled by fascist governments at some points of their history; how does it refer to other right-wing regimes is a question of further debate.

Contents

Military government

In the most common Western view, the perfect example of a right-wing dictatorship is any of those that once ruled in South America. Those regimes were predominantly military juntas and most of them collapsed in the 1980s. Communist countries, which were very cautious about not revealing their authoritarian methods of rule to the public, were usually led by civilian governments and officers taking power were not much welcomed there. Few exceptions include the Burmese Way to Socialism (Burma, 1966–1988), the Military Council of National Salvation (People's Republic of Poland, 1981–1983) or the North Korean regime's evolution throughout the rule of Kim Il-sung.

Religion and the government

Most right-wing regimes kept strong ties with local Churches (usually the Roman Catholic ones since most of those regimes happened in Catholic countries). This policy of a strong Church-state alliance is usually referred to as Austrofascism. The most pro-Catholic dictatorships were Portugal (1933–1974) and the Federal State of Austria (1934–1938). Non-Christian dictatorships include those in the Muslim world; the most famous being Iran since the revolution of 1979. There are several other examples of theocratic (and, therefore, right-wing) regimes in the region, like Somalia or Afghanistan under the Taliban. While it is unclear whether a monarchy could be called a dictatorship, theocratic absolute monarchies of Saudi Arabia or Vatican City share many similarities with the regimes mentioned above. Many of those are/were led by spiritual leaders; examples include the Slovak Republic under the Reverend Josef Tiso or Iran under the Ayatollahs Khomeini (1979–1989) and Khamenei (1989–present). Some right-wing dictatorships, most notably the Nazi one in Germany, were purely secular though, and some other, like the pre-revolutionary Pahlavis' Iranian regime, even openly anti-religious.

Post-communist states

It is difficult to declare whether the term of a right-wing dictatorship is needed while dealing with the current situation as, following the end of the Cold War, almost all communist regimes throughout the world ceased to exist. Out of five that survived till today, three (China, Laos, and Vietnam) decided to follow Western rules of free market and capitalism, although still referring to themselves as socialist.

Europe

In some post-communist countries, people involved in the previous regime took power in the years following the end of the Cold War. The most famous example of a European dictatorship of that sort is Belarus under Alexander Lukashenko. Belarus and Azerbaijan were both considered "authoritarian regimes" by the Democracy Index as of 2008. Freedom House marks them "not-free states" together with Russia, so whether Russia is a dictatorship or just a seriously flawed democracy is a question of further debate. All three governments are non-communist and, especially in Russia, sometimes stay in total opposition to the communist parties. Therefore, they could be called right-wing as well.

List of European right-wing dictatorships

Considering a right-wing dictatorship any non-democratic regime that is not communist, the list of European examples would be as following:

Country Historical name(s) Movement(s) Years of rule Dictator(s)
Albania Principality of Albania, Albanian Republic, Albanian Kingdom None 1922–1939 Zog
Austria Federal State of Austria Fatherland's Front 1934–1938 Engelbert Dollfuss, Kurt Schuschnigg
Azerbaijan Republic of Azerbaijan New Azerbaijan Party 1993–present Heydar Aliyev, Ilham Aliyev
Bulgaria Kingdom of Bulgaria None
  • 1923–1926
  • 1934–1945
Croatia
  • 1941–1945
  • 1990–1999
Cyprus Republic of Cyprus EOKA B 1974 Nikos Sampson
Czech Republic None
  • 1938–1939
  • 1939–1945
Estonia Republic of Estonia None 1934–1940[2] Konstantin Päts
France French State Collaborationist government 1940–1944 Philippe Pétain
Georgia Republic of Georgia Union of Citizens of Georgia 1995–2003 Eduard Shevardnadze
Germany Third Reich National Socialist German Workers' Party 1933–1945 Adolf Hitler, Karl Dönitz
Greece
  • 1925–1926
  • 1936–1941
  • 1941–1944
  • 1967–1974
Hungary Kingdom of Hungary
  • 1944–1945
Italy
  • 1923–1945
  • 1943–1945
Latvia Republic of Latvia Latvian Farmers' Union (disbaned after coup) 1934–1940 Kārlis Ulmanis
Lithuania Republic of Lithuania Lithuanian National Union 1926–1940 Antanas Smetona
Netherlands Reichskommissariat Niederlande National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands 1940–1945 Anton Mussert
Norway Reichskommissariat Norwegen Nasjonal Samling 1940–1945 Vidkun Quisling
Poland Second Polish Republic Sanation 1926–1939 Józef Piłsudski, Edward Rydz-Śmigły
Portugal
  • 1915
  • 1917–1918
  • 1926–1933
  • 1933–1974
Romania Kingdom of Romania
  • 1938–1940
  • 1940–1941
  • 1941–1944
Slovakia
  • 1939–1945
  • 1994–1998
Spain
  • 1923–1930
  • 1939–1975

Notes

^ Semi-authoritarian regime.
^ Semi-authoritarian regime in the years 1938–1940.
^ Semi-authoritarian regime.

See also