These tyrants are rational actors open to bargaining with foreign adversaries, but not necessarily in the Western manner. Putin and the state oligarchy of China are examples. Tyrants who want acclaim and influenceĪs far back as Alexander the Great, the Tudors and “enlightened despots” like Frederick the Great, we’ve also seen tyrannical autocrats who want to build large, powerful and prosperous states with some benefits for ordinary people, but without sharing power.

The wealth and autocratic power of such tyrants are often accompanied by cruelty and hedonism, from the sexual perversions of Nero to Muammar Gaddafi’s abused female bodyguards and rumours of Kim Jong-un killing his uncle by setting wild dogs upon him.

Plato would have instantly recognized Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, for example. The following categories of tyrannies may have some startling parallels to current events: Tyrants who run their countries like Mafia donsįor sheer exploitation, these are the oldest type in their class, and still the most widespread today. Echoing ancient students of politics like Plato and Sallust, Alexander Hamilton warned against a potential “Catiline or Caesar” arising in democracy’s midst disguised as the people’s champion. We can still apply those categories today.Īmerica’s Founding Fathers, in fact, were among those so deeply concerned about avoiding tyranny, either from a single politician or a majority mob, that they developed a system of government to thwart it. Responsible self-government under the rule of law was fragile.ĭifferent categories of tyrannies emerged over the ages that have helped to classify and condemn tyranny and other exploitative forms of authority, and to encourage self-governing societies. A change in government usually meant the new winners would oppress the previous winners, prosecuting them and seizing their property. Tyranny was first experienced on a large scale by the ancient Greeks - both from the external threat posed to their small city-states by the mighty Persian empire and from the tendency of their own politics to veer between extremes of tyranny and anarchy. That history can help us sort out what’s happening today - and even reassure us that there’s reason for hope.

In my book Tyrants: A History of Power, Injustice and Terror, I delve into how various forms of tyranny, dictatorship and populist demagoguery have a detailed and fascinating history reaching back to ancient Greece. On the other hand, people on the alt-right in Europe, such as Marine Le Pen, openly admire Putin’s authoritarianism and want it for Europe. Amid the Russian scandal that’s engulfed Trump’s presidency, many observers worry about his apparent indifference toward Putin’s actions in Ukraine and the Baltic states, and see a resemblance between their strongman styles. Vladimir Putin’s authoritarianism, ISIS terrorism, the nuclear threat from North Korea and Donald Trump’s populism are just a few examples of the forces challenging our societies.Ĭoncerns about immigrants from terrorist enclaves helped elect Trump and fuelled Brexit.

Examples of tyranny