Authoritarianism: It is a form of government where the power is concentrated between the leader or leaders of the country. In other words, an authoritarian government has one person or a group to control politics. Further, there are no limits on the power and accountability. Usually, the leaders are self-appointed in an authoritarian rule. These type of governments tend to not have a constitution. Therefore, there is no scope for people’s opinion as there are no elections conducted.
Well, it is the dictator who runs this type of government. The word authoritarianism is used in a negative context, as it is the type of ruling in which there is a total control over one’s personal freedom. It is indeed, the principle of blind submission to the authority. More often, the leaders in an authoritarian rule exercise their powers without the consent of the law bodies. In addition to this, these leaders cannot be replaced by the citizens who choose freely among the other competitors of elections.
The political concept behind this type of government is that the citizen should be totally subjected to the state authority. It strongly indicates intolerance by the authority to allow one to question the authority. It is simply the lack of concern for the wishes and opinions of the public. This type of ruling is often characterized by the unregulated and unaccountable use of power.
The government maintains the authority over all aspects of private and public life is the most extreme form of authoritarianism often referred to as ‘Totalitarianism.’
The change of authoritarian rule to democracy is nothing but ‘Democratization.’
One of the examples for a country with the authoritarian rule in China. In China, only the members of the Communist party are allowed to be a part of the government. In the present world of democracy and individual freedom, China still has to grow in terms of ruling its own country.
While it has become rare to spot countries with such type of government in the present 21st century, Turkey is one such country where the President has been given a vast increase in his powers. The powers include appointing the judges without the consent of the parliament, issues decrees with the force of law and many more.
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