Editing Dictatorship (section)

=== Cold War dictatorships ===
==== Africa ====
[[File:Prins Bernhard in Zaire (voorheen Belgisch Congo), Bernhard en Mobutu, Bestanddeelnr 926-6037.jpg|thumb|[[Mobutu Sese Seko]], Zaire's longtime dictator]]
Many dictatorships formed in Africa, with most forming after countries gained independence during [[Decolonisation of Africa|decolonisation]]. [[Mobutu Sese Seko]] ruled the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a dictator for decades, renaming it [[Zaire]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schatzberg |first=Michael G |date=1997 |title=Beyond Mobutu: Kabila and the Congo |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/16852 |journal=Journal of Democracy |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=70–84 |doi=10.1353/jod.1997.0065 |s2cid=154740659 |issn=1086-3214}}</ref> [[Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo]] has ruled Equatorial Guinea as a dictator since he led a military coup in 1979.<ref name=":03">{{Cite journal |last1=Sá |first1=Ana Lúcia |last2=Rodrigues Sanches |first2=Edalina |date=2021 |title=The politics of autocratic survival in Equatorial Guinea: Co-optation, restrictive institutional rules, repression, and international projection |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/afraf/adaa030 |journal=African Affairs |volume=120 |issue=478 |pages=78–102 |doi=10.1093/afraf/adaa030 |issn=0001-9909|hdl=10071/22003 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> In 1973, King [[Sobhuza II]] of Swaziland suspended the constitution and ruled as an absolute monarch.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Maroleng |first=Chris |date=2003-01-01 |title=Swaziland |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/10246029.2003.9627233 |journal=African Security Review |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=45–48 |doi=10.1080/10246029.2003.9627233 |s2cid=218646255 |issn=1024-6029}}</ref> [[Samuel Doe]] established a military dictatorship in Liberia in the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gershoni |first=Yekutiel |date=1997 |title=War Without End and An End to A War: The Prolonged Wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone* |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/african-studies-review/article/abs/war-without-end-and-an-end-to-a-war-the-prolonged-wars-in-liberia-and-sierra-leone/81265BA4275163818E309F70A78715E8 |journal=African Studies Review |language=en |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=55–76 |doi=10.2307/524966 |jstor=524966 |s2cid=144782596 |issn=0002-0206}}</ref> Libya was ruled by [[Muammar Gaddafi]] for several decades following [[1969 Libyan coup d'état|a military coup]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Schnelzer |first=Nadine |title=From the Monarchy to the Fall of Gaddafi |date=2016 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-11382-7_3 |work=Libya in the Arab Spring: The Constitutional Discourse since the Fall of Gaddafi |pages=31–39 |editor-last=Schnelzer |editor-first=Nadine |place=Wiesbaden |publisher=Springer Fachmedien |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-658-11382-7_3 |isbn=978-3-658-11382-7 |access-date=2022-07-27}}</ref> [[Moussa Traoré]] ruled as a dictator in Mali.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Imperato |first=PJ |date=1991 |title=Mali: Downfall of a Dictator |journal=Africa Report |volume=36 |issue=4}}</ref> [[Habib Bourguiba]] ruled as a dictator in Tunisia until he was deposed by a coup led by [[Zine El Abidine Ben Ali]] in 1987, who in turn ruled as a dictator until the [[Tunisian Revolution]] in 2011.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Cavatorta |first1=Francesco |last2=Haugbølle |first2=Rikke Hostrup |date=2012-07-01 |title=The End of Authoritarian Rule and the Mythology of Tunisia under Ben Ali |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13629395.2012.694043 |journal=Mediterranean Politics |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=179–195 |doi=10.1080/13629395.2012.694043 |s2cid=143828270 |issn=1362-9395}}</ref> [[Robert Mugabe]] ruled as a dictator in Zimbabwe.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Arnold |first1=James R. |url= |title=Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe |last2=Wiener |first2=Roberta |date=2007-09-01 |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |isbn=978-0-8225-7283-1 |pages=10 |language=en}}</ref>

Early socialist dictatorships in Africa mainly developed as personalist dictatorships, in which a single socialist would take power instead of a ruling party. Later in the Cold War, the Soviet Union increased its influence in Africa as Marxist-Leninist dictatorships developed in several African countries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ottaway |first=Marina S. |title=The African State in Transition |year=1987 |isbn=9780333415665 |editor-last=Ergas |editor-first=Zaki |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-18886-4_8}}</ref> One-party Marxist states in Africa included [[People's Republic of Angola|Angola]] under the [[MPLA]], [[People's Republic of Benin|Benin]] under [[Mathieu Kérékou]], Cape Verde under the [[PAICV]], the [[People's Republic of the Congo|Congo]] under the [[Congolese Party of Labour]], [[People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia|Ethiopia]] under the [[Workers' Party of Ethiopia]], [[Democratic Republic of Madagascar|Madagascar]] under [[Malagasy Revolutionary Party|AREMA]], [[People's Republic of Mozambique|Mozambique]] under [[FRELIMO]], and [[Somali Democratic Republic|Somalia]] under [[Siad Barre]].
[[File:Communist rally in Meskel Square.jpg|thumb|A communist rally in [[Addis Ababa]], [[Ethiopia]], during the country's period of Marxist dictatorship, the [[People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia]]]]
Many African countries underwent several military coups that installed a series of military dictatorships throughout the Cold War. These include Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Uganda, each undergoing at least three successful military coups between 1959 and 2001.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McGowan |first=Patrick J. |date=2003 |title=African military coups d'état, 1956–2001: frequency, trends, and distribution |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-modern-african-studies/article/abs/african-military-coups-detat-19562001-frequency-trends-and-distribution/C7E923CE86B78DD099FDEFAF89F1F88E |journal=The Journal of Modern African Studies |language=en |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=339–370 |doi=10.1017/S0022278X0300435X |s2cid=59497624 |issn=1469-7777}}</ref>

Some leaders of African countries abolished opposition parties, establishing one-party dictatorships. These include the [[National Liberation Front (Algeria)|National Liberation Front]] in Algeria,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Testas |first=A. |date=2002-12-01 |title=Political Repression, Democratization and Civil Conflict in Post-Independence Algeria |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/714000287 |journal=Democratization |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=106–121 |doi=10.1080/714000287 |s2cid=145094802 |issn=1351-0347}}</ref> the [[Chadian Progressive Party]] under [[François Tombalbaye]] in Chad,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nolutshungu |first=Sam C. |title=Limits of Anarchy: Intervention and State Formation in Chad |year=1996 |isbn=9780813916286 |pages=17|publisher=University of Virginia Press }}</ref> the [[Gabonese Democratic Party]] under [[Omar Bongo]] in Gabon,<ref>{{Citation |last=Mengara |first=Daniel |title=The Making of a Monarchical Republic: The Undoing of Presidential Term Limits in Gabon Under Omar Bongo |date=2020 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40810-7_3 |work=The Politics of Challenging Presidential Term Limits in Africa |pages=65–104 |editor-last=Mangala |editor-first=Jack R. |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-40810-7_3 |isbn=978-3-030-40810-7 |s2cid=216244948 |access-date=2022-07-27}}</ref> the [[Democratic Party of Guinea – African Democratic Rally|Democratic Party]] under [[Ahmed Sékou Touré]] in Guinea, the [[Malawi Congress Party]] under [[Hastings Banda]] in Malawi,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gabay |first=Clive |date=2017-11-02 |title=The Radical and Reactionary Politics of Malawi's Hastings Banda: Roots, Fruit and Legacy |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2017.1365525 |journal=Journal of Southern African Studies |volume=43 |issue=6 |pages=1119–1135 |doi=10.1080/03057070.2017.1365525 |s2cid=149414794 |issn=0305-7070}}</ref> the [[National Movement for the Development of Society|MNSD]] under [[Ali Saibou]] in Niger,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moestrup |first=Sophia |date=1999-06-01 |title=The role of actors and institutions: The difficulties of democratic survival in Mali and Niger |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13510349908403616 |journal=Democratization |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=171–186 |doi=10.1080/13510349908403616 |issn=1351-0347}}</ref> [[National Revolutionary Movement for Development|MRND]] under [[Juvénal Habyarimana]] in Rwanda, the [[Socialist Party of Senegal|Socialist Party]] under [[Léopold Sédar Senghor]] in Senegal,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hunter |first=Brian |chapter=Senegal |date=1992 |chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230271210_151|url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230271210 |title=The Statesman's Year-Book: Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World for the Year 1992–1993 |pages=1153–1156 |editor-last=Hunter |editor-first=Brian |place=London |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |language=en |doi=10.1057/9780230271210 |doi-broken-date=5 February 2025 |isbn=978-0-230-27121-0 |access-date=2022-07-27}}</ref> [[Julius Nyerere]] in Tanzania, the [[Rally of the Togolese People|RPT]] under [[Gnassingbé Eyadéma]] in Togo, and the [[United National Independence Party]] under [[Kenneth Kaunda]] in Zambia. The [[Kenya African National Union|KANU]] in Kenya ruled under a ''de facto'' one-party state.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gertzel |first=Cherry |date=1966-11-01 |title=The provincial administration in Kenya |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14662046608447047 |journal=Journal of Commonwealth Political Studies |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=201–215 |doi=10.1080/14662046608447047 |issn=0021-9908}}</ref>

==== Asia ====
[[File:Marcos Clark Air Base cropped.jpg|thumb|left|190px|[[Ferdinand Marcos]] (pictured with his wife [[Imelda Marcos|Imelda]]) was a Philippine dictator and [[Kleptocracy|kleptocrat]]. His regime was infamous for its corruption.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/07/10bn-dollar-question-marcos-millions-nick-davies|title=The $10bn question: what happened to the Marcos millions?|author=Nick Davies|date=May 7, 2016|work=The Guardian}}</ref>]]
The [[Chinese Civil War]] ended in 1949, splitting the Republic of China under [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and the People's Republic of China under [[Mao Zedong]]. Mao established the People's Republic of China as a one-party communist state under his governing ideology of [[Maoism]]. While the People's Republic of China was initially aligned with the Soviet Union, relations between the two countries [[Sino-Soviet split|deteriorated]] as the Soviet Union underwent [[de-Stalinization]] in the late-1950s. Mao consolidated his control of the People's Republic of China with the [[Cultural Revolution]] in the 1960s, which involved the destruction of all elements of capitalism and traditionalism in China.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mitter |first=Rana |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Cold War |editor-first1=Richard H |editor-first2=Petra |editor-last1=Immerman |editor-last2=Goedde |date=2013-01-01 |chapter=China and the Cold War |pages=124–140 |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/34525/chapter/292914289 |language=en |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199236961.013.0008|isbn=978-0199236961 }}</ref> [[Deng Xiaoping]] took power as the ''de facto'' leader of China after Mao's death and implemented [[Chinese economic reform|reforms]] to restore stability following the Cultural Revolution and reestablish [[free market]] economics.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shirk |first=Susan L. |date=1990-09-01 |title="Playing to the Provinces:" Deng Xiaoping's political strategy of economic reform |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0039-3592%2890%2990010-J |journal=Studies in Comparative Communism |language=en |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=227–258 |doi=10.1016/0039-3592(90)90010-J |issn=0039-3592}}</ref> Chiang Kai-shek continued to rule as dictator of the National government's [[rump state]] in [[Taiwan]] until he died in 1975.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Stevens |first1=Quentin |last2=de Seta |first2=Gabriele |date=2020-07-03 |title=Must Zhongzheng fall? |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2020.1784593 |journal=City |volume=24 |issue=3–4 |pages=627–641 |doi=10.1080/13604813.2020.1784593 |bibcode=2020City...24..627S |s2cid=221059194 |issn=1360-4813}}</ref>

Marxist and nationalist movements became popular in Southeast Asia as a response to [[European colonisation of Southeast Asia|colonial control]] and the subsequent [[Japanese colonial empire|Japanese occupation]] of Southeast Asia, with both ideologies facilitating the creation of dictatorships after World War II. Communist dictatorships in the region aligned with China following the latter's establishment as a communist state.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lau |first=Albert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-KiXjPZXc-wC |title=Southeast Asia and the Cold War |date=2012-07-26 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-29988-9 |pages=2–3 |language=en}}</ref> Three Communist dictatorships were formed in Southeast Asia: [[North Vietnam]], Laos, and [[Democratic Kampuchea|Kampuchea]]. North Vietnam conquered [[South Vietnam]] at the end of the [[Vietnam War]], and the two merged into a single Communist country. Anti-Communist dictators also ruled in the region. [[Suharto]] became dictator in Indonesia after [[Transition to the New Order|taking power]] in 1967.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guan |first=Ang Cheng |date=2013-01-01 |chapter=The Cold War in Southeast Asia |url=https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/34525/chapter/292917918 |editor-first1=Richard H |editor-first2=Petra |editor-last1=Immerman |editor-last2=Goedde |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Cold War |edition=Online |publisher=Oxford Academic |pages=230–245 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199236961.013.0014 |isbn=978-0-19-923696-1 |language=en}}</ref> [[Ngo Dinh Diem]] ruled South Vietnam as a dictator until the [[1963 South Vietnamese coup|1963 military coup]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Warner |first=Geoffrey |date=1974-12-01 |title=The united states and the fall of diem. I. The coup that never was |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/10357717408444509 |journal=Australian Outlook |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=245–258 |doi=10.1080/10357717408444509 |issn=0004-9913}}</ref> [[Ferdinand Marcos]] ruled Philippines as a dictator until the [[People Power Revolution]] in 1986.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Benedicto |first=Bobby |date=2021 |title=The place of the dead, the time of dictatorship: Nostalgia, sovereignty, and the corpse of Ferdinand Marcos |journal=Environment and Planning D: Society and Space |language=en |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=722–739 |doi=10.1177/02637758211013038 |issn=0263-7758 |pmc=8369899 |pmid=34421166|bibcode=2021EnPlD..39..722B }}</ref> A [[Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma|socialist military dictatorship]] was also created separately from the Communist governments in Burma until it was [[8888 Uprising|overthrown]] in 1988 and replaced by a [[State Peace and Development Council|new military dictatorship]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Aung-Thwin |first1=Maureen |last2=Myint-U |first2=Thant |date=1992-01-01 |title=The Burmese ways to socialism |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/01436599208420262 |journal=Third World Quarterly |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=67–75 |doi=10.1080/01436599208420262 |issn=0143-6597}}</ref>

[[File:1974.-Vizita-in-Siria.-Intalnire-protocolara-1024x833.jpg|thumb|[[Nicolae Ceaușescu]] (left) attending a stage event with [[Hafez al-Assad]] (right), during his state visit to [[Ba'athist Syria|Syria]]]]

A similar phenomenon took place in [[Korea]], where [[Kim Il Sung]] created a Soviet-backed communist dictatorship in North Korea<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wintrobe |first=Ronald |date=2013-12-01 |title=North Korea as a Military Dictatorship |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/peps-2013-0036/html |journal=Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy |language=en |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=459–471 |doi=10.1515/peps-2013-0036 |issn=1554-8597 |s2cid=154616493}}</ref> and [[Syngman Rhee]] created a US-backed nationalist dictatorship in South Korea.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kim |first=Quee-Young |date=1996-06-01 |title=From Protest to Change of Regime: The 4–19 Revolt and The Fall of the Rhee Regime in South Korea* |url=https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/74.4.1179 |journal=Social Forces |volume=74 |issue=4 |pages=1179–1208 |doi=10.1093/sf/74.4.1179 |issn=0037-7732}}</ref> [[Park Chung Hee]]<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2054405,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604011708/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2054405,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 4, 2011|title=Park Chung Hee |magazine=[[Time Magazine|Time]]|date=August 23, 1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.zum.com/articles/3701203?c=01&sc=2 |language=ko |script-title=ko:인혁당 유가족, 새누리당사 앞 항의 방문|date=September 12, 2012}}</ref> and [[Chun Doo-hwan]]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Borowiec |first1=Steven |title=South Korea's ex-dictator Chun Doo-hwan tries to keep low profile in his twilight years |url=https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-south-korea-dictator-20151129-story.html |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=28 March 2022 |date=29 November 2015}}</ref><ref name="ATM">{{cite web |last1=Goh |first1=Da-Sol |title=Ex-S Korea dictator is belligerently unrepentant |url=https://asiatimes.com/2019/12/a-former-dictator-in-south-korea-has-yet-to-do-soul-searching-for-his-atrocities-in-the-1980s/ |website=Asia Times |access-date=28 March 2022 |date=17 December 2019}}</ref><ref name="NYT">{{cite web |last1=Sang-Hun |first1=Choe |title=Chun Doo-hwan, Ex-Military Dictator in South Korea, Dies at 90 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/23/world/asia/chun-doo-hwan-dead.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=28 March 2022 |date=23 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Scars still raw 40 years after dictator crushed South Korea uprising |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3084753/gwangju-massacre-scars-still-raw-40-years-after-dictator |website=South China Morning Post |access-date=28 March 2022 |language=en |date=17 May 2020 |quote=On May 18, 1980 demonstrators protesting against dictator Chun Doo-hwan's declaration of martial law confronted his troops and 10 days of violence ensued.}}</ref> would continue the pattern of dictatorship in South Korea until the [[June Democratic Struggle]] in 1987, which enabled the country's first free and fair elections and its subsequent democratization under [[Roh Tae Woo]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Paik |first=Nak-chung |date=2007-06-04 |title=Democracy and Peace in Korea Twenty Years After June 1987: Where Are We Now, and Where Do We Go from Here? |url=https://apjjf.org/-Nak-chung-Paik/2440/article.html |journal=The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus |volume=5 |issue=6}}</ref>
The Middle East was decolonized during the Cold War, and many nationalist movements gained strength post-independence. These nationalist movements supported [[Non-Aligned Movement|non-alignment]], keeping most Middle Eastern dictatorships out of the American and Soviet spheres of influence. These movements supported [[Pan-Arabism|pan-Arab]] [[Nasserism]] during most of the Cold War, but they were largely replaced by [[Islamic nationalism]] by the 1980s.<ref name=":3" /> Several Middle Eastern countries were the subject of military coups in the 1950s and 1960s, including Iraq, Syria, North Yemen, and South Yemen.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Be'eri |first=Eliezer |date=1982-01-01 |title=The waning of the military coup in Arab politics |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/00263208208700496 |journal=Middle Eastern Studies |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=69–128 |doi=10.1080/00263208208700496 |issn=0026-3206}}</ref> A [[1953 Iranian coup d'état|1953 coup]] overseen by the American and British governments restored [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]] as the absolute monarch of Iran, who in turn was overthrown during the [[Iranian Revolution]] of 1979 that established [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] as the [[Supreme Leader of Iran]] under a Shia [[Islamism|Islamist]] government, with [[Ali Khamenei]] taking over after Khomeini's death.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Yaqub |first=Salim |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Cold War |editor-first1=Richard H |editor-first2=Petra |editor-last1=Immerman |editor-last2=Goedde |date=2013-01-01 |chapter=The Cold War and the Middle East |pages=246–264 |chapter-url=https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/34525/chapter/292918670 |language=en |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199236961.013.0015|isbn=978-0199236961 }}</ref>

==== Europe ====
[[File:El Caudillo y Rafael L. Trujillo en una demostración 1.jpg|thumb|Spanish dictator [[Francisco Franco]] with [[Dominican Republic|Dominican]] dictator [[Rafael Trujillo]], 1954]]
[[António de Oliveira Salazar]] became Prime Minister of Portugal in 1932 and established the [[Estado Novo (Portugal)|''Estado Novo'']].{{Sfn|Lee|2016|p=305–306}} [[Francisco Franco]] took power in Spain after leading the [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|Nationalist faction]] to victory in the [[Spanish Civil War]] and became a dictator in 1939.{{Sfn|Lee|2016|pp=297–298}}

During World War II, many countries of Central and Eastern Europe had been occupied by the Soviet Union. When the war ended, these countries were incorporated into the Soviet sphere of influence, and the Soviet Union exercised control over their governments.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Iordachi |first1=Constantin |last2=Apor |first2=Péter |date=2013-01-01 |title=Introduction: Studying Communist Dictatorships: From Comparative to Transnational History |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/eceu/40/1-2/article-p1_1.xml |journal=East Central Europe |language=en |volume=40 |issue=1–2 |pages=1–35 |doi=10.1163/18763308-04001016 |issn=1876-3308}}</ref> [[Josip Broz Tito]] declared a communist government in Yugoslavia during World War II, which was initially aligned with the Soviet Union. The relations between the countries were strained by Soviet attempts to influence Yugoslavia, leading to the [[Tito–Stalin split]] in 1948.{{Sfn|Staar|1982|pp=230–232}} Albania was established as a communist dictatorship under [[Enver Hoxha]] in 1944. It was initially aligned with Yugoslavia, but its alignment shifted throughout the Cold War between Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, and China.{{Sfn|Staar|1982|pp=1–2}} The stability of the Soviet Union weakened in the 1980s. The Soviet economy became unsustainable, and communist governments lost the support of intellectuals and their population in general. In 1989, the Soviet Union was [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|dissolved]], and communism was abandoned by the countries of Central and Eastern Europe through a series of [[Revolutions of 1989|revolutions]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Schöpflin |first=George |date=1990-01-01 |title=The end of communism in Eastern Europe |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/2622187 |journal=International Affairs |volume=66 |issue=1 |pages=3–16 |doi=10.2307/2622187 |jstor=2622187 |issn=0020-5850}}</ref>

==== Latin America ====
Military dictatorships remained prominent in Latin America during the Cold War, though the number of coups declined starting in the 1980s. Between 1967 and 1991, 12 Latin American countries underwent at least one military coup, with Haiti and Honduras experiencing three and Bolivia experiencing eight.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dix |first=Robert H. |date=1994 |title=Military Coups and Military Rule in Latin America |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0095327X9402000307 |journal=Armed Forces & Society |language=en |volume=20 |issue=3 |pages=439–456 |doi=10.1177/0095327X9402000307 |s2cid=144439768 |issn=0095-327X}}</ref> A one-party communist dictatorship was formed in Cuba when the dictatorship of [[Fulgencio Batista]], weakened by an American arms embargo against his regime, was overthrown in the [[Cuban Revolution]], creating the only Soviet-backed dictatorship in the western hemisphere.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thomas |first=Hugh |date=1987 |title=Cuba: The United States and Batista, 1952-58 |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/wrldaf149&id=183&div=&collection= |journal=World Affairs |volume=149 |issue=4 |pages=169–175}}</ref> To maintain power, Chilean dictator [[Augusto Pinochet]] organized [[Operation Condor]] with other South American dictators to facilitate cooperation between their respective intelligence agencies and secret police organizations.<ref name=":32">{{Cite magazine |date=1999-03-19 |title=Operation Condor Haunts Bolivian President Hugo Banzer |magazine=NotiSur |publisher=University of New Mexico |issn=1060-4189}}</ref>