Editing Dictatorship (section)

== Legitimacy and stability ==
{{see also|Negative selection (politics)}}
[[File:Vladimir Putin and Serdar Berdymuhammedow (2024 Victory Day).jpg|thumb|right|300px|[[Vladimir Putin]] and [[Serdar Berdimuhamedow|Serdar Berdimuhammedov]]]]
Several factors determine the stability of a dictatorship, and they must maintain some degree of popular support to prevent resistance groups from growing. This may be ensured through incentives, such as distribution of financial resources or promises of security, or it may be through [[political repression]], in which failing to support the regime is punished. Stability can be weakened when opposition groups grow and unify or when elites are not loyal to the regime.{{sfn|Ezrow|Frantz|2011|pp=55–58}} One-party dictatorships are generally more stable and last longer than military or personalist dictatorships.<ref name=":4" />

A dictatorship may fall because of a military coup, foreign intervention, negotiation, or popular [[revolution]].{{sfn|Ezrow|Frantz|2011|pp=61–62}} A military coup is often carried out when a regime is threatening the country's stability or during periods of [[Social unrest|societal unrest]].{{sfn|Ezrow|Frantz|2011|p=63}} Foreign intervention takes place when another country seeks to topple a regime by invading the country or supporting the opposition.{{sfn|Ezrow|Frantz|2011|p=64}} A dictator may negotiate the end of a regime if it has lost legitimacy or if a violent removal seems likely.{{sfn|Ezrow|Frantz|2011|p=65}} The Revolution takes place when the opposition group grows large enough that elites in the regime cannot suppress it or choose not to.{{sfn|Ezrow|Frantz|2011|p=66}} Negotiated removals are more likely to end in democracy, while removals by force are more likely to result in a new dictatorial regime. A dictator that has concentrated significant power is more likely to be exiled, imprisoned, or killed after ouster, and accordingly, they are more likely to refuse negotiation and cling to power.{{Sfn|Geddes|Wright|Frantz|2018|pp=206–207}}

Dictatorships are typically more aggressive than democracy when in conflict with other nations, as dictators do not have to fear the electoral costs of war. Military dictatorships are more prone to conflict due to the inherent military strength associated with such a regime, and personalist dictatorships are more prone to conflict due to the weaker institutions to check the dictator's power.{{sfn|Ezrow|Frantz|2011|pp=144–145}} In the 21st century, dictatorships have moved toward greater integration with the global community and increasingly attempt to present themselves as democratic.<ref name=":6" /> Dictatorships are often recipients of [[Aid|foreign aid]] on the condition that they make advances toward [[democratization]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wright |first=Joseph |date=2009 |title=How Foreign Aid Can Foster Democratization in Authoritarian Regimes |journal=American Journal of Political Science |language=en |volume=53 |issue=3 |pages=552–571 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-5907.2009.00386.x|doi-access=free }}</ref> A study found that dictatorships that engage in oil drilling are more likely to remain in power, with 70.63% of the dictators who engage in oil drilling still being in power after five years of dictatorship, while only 59.92% of the non-oil producing dictators survive the first five years.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crespo Cuaresma |first1=Jesus |last2=Oberhofer |first2=Harald |last3=Raschky |first3=Paul A. |date=September 2011 |title=Oil and the duration of dictatorships |journal=Public Choice |volume=148 |issue=3–4 |pages=505–530 |doi=10.1007/s11127-010-9671-0 |s2cid=154677328|hdl=10419/71875 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

=== Elections ===
[[File:Wahlzettel-3.-Reich.jpg|thumb|An electoral slip in the [[1936 German parliamentary election and referendum|1936 German parliamentary election]]. Adolf Hitler and his inner circle are the only option.]]
Most dictatorships hold elections to maintain legitimacy and stability, but these elections are typically uncompetitive and the opposition is not permitted to win. Elections allow a dictatorship to exercise some control over the opposition by setting the terms under which the opposition challenges the regime.{{sfn|Ezrow|Frantz|2011|pp=67–68}} Elections are also used to control elites within the dictatorship by requiring them to compete with one another and incentivizing them to build support with the populace, allowing the most popular and most competent elites to be promoted in the regime. Elections also support the legitimacy of a dictatorship by presenting the image of democracy, establishing plausible deniability of its status as a dictatorship for both the populace and foreign governments.{{sfn|Ezrow|Frantz|2011|pp=69–70}} Should a dictatorship fail, elections also permit dictators and elites to accept defeat without fearing violent recourse.{{sfn|Ezrow|Frantz|2011|p=69}} Dictatorships may influence the results of an election through [[electoral fraud]], intimidation or bribing of candidates and voters, use of state resources such as media control, manipulation of electoral laws, restricting who may run as a candidate, or disenfranchising demographics that may oppose the dictatorship.{{sfn|Ezrow|Frantz|2011|pp=71–74}}

In the 20th century, most dictatorships held elections in which voters could only choose to support the dictatorship, with only one-quarter of partisan dictatorships permitting opposition candidates to participate.{{Sfn|Geddes|Wright|Frantz|2018|p=137}} Since the end of the Cold War, more dictatorships have established "semi-competitive" elections in which opposition is allowed to participate in elections but is not allowed to win, with approximately two-thirds of dictatorships permitting opposition candidates in 2018.{{Sfn|Geddes|Wright|Frantz|2018|p=138}} Opposition parties in dictatorships may be restricted by preventing them from campaigning, banning more popular opposition parties, preventing opposition members from forming a party, or requiring that candidates be a member of the ruling party.{{Sfn|Geddes|Wright|Frantz|2018|p=138}} Dictatorships may hold semi-competitive elections to qualify for foreign aid, to demonstrate a dictator's control over the government, or to incentivize the party to expand its information-gathering capacity, particularly at the local level. Semi-competitive elections also have the effect of incentivizing members of the ruling party to provide better treatment of citizens so they will be chosen as party nominees due to their popularity.{{Sfn|Geddes|Wright|Frantz|2018|pp=138–140}}

=== Violence ===
In a dictatorship, violence is used to coerce or repress all opposition to the dictator's rule, and the strength of a dictatorship depends on its use of violence. This violence is frequently exercised through institutions such as military or police forces.{{Sfn|Geddes|Wright|Frantz|2018|p=154}} The use of violence by a dictator is frequently most severe during the first few years of a dictatorship, because the regime has not yet solidified its rule and more detailed information for targeted coercion is not yet available. As the dictatorship becomes more established, it moves away from violence by resorting to the use of other coercive measures, such as restricting people's access to information and tracking the political opposition. Dictators are incentivized to avoid the use of violence once a reputation of violence is established, as it damages the dictatorship's other institutions and poses a threat to the dictator's rule should government forces become disloyal.{{Sfn|Geddes|Wright|Frantz|2018|p=155}}

Institutions that coerce the opposition through the use of violence may serve different roles or they may be used to counterbalance one another to prevent one institution from becoming too powerful. [[Secret police]] are used to gather information about specific political opponents and carry out targeted acts of violence against them, [[paramilitary]] forces defend the regime from coups, and formal militaries defend the dictatorship during foreign invasions and major civil conflicts.{{Sfn|Geddes|Wright|Frantz|2018|p=155}}

[[Terrorism]] is less common in dictatorships. Allowing the opposition to have representation in the regime, such as through a legislature, further reduces the likelihood of terrorist attacks in a dictatorship.<ref name="Terrorism In Dictatorships"/> Military and one-party dictatorships are more likely to experience terrorism than personalist dictatorships, as these regimes are under more pressure to undergo institutional change in response to terrorism.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Conrad |first1=Courtenay R. |last2=Conrad |first2=Justin |last3=Young |first3=Joseph K. |date=2014 |title=Tyrants and Terrorism: Why Some Autocrats are Terrorized While Others are Not |journal=International Studies Quarterly |language=en |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=539–549 |doi=10.1111/isqu.12120|doi-access=free }}</ref>

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File:Pasillo de la memoria UTN FRA (2015) 11.JPG|Photographs of [[Dirty War|victims]] of the [[National Reorganization Process|civic-military dictatorship of Argentina]]
File:Cambodia 2011 monuments 10.jpg|Rooms of the [[Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum]] contain thousands of photos taken by the [[Khmer Rouge]] of their victims.
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