2017/01/01 by Jan C. Behrends, Zentrum Für Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Global Peace and Security Dynamics #Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics #International Law and Human Rights
paper · doi:10.14765/zzf.dok.2.790.v2
openalex publication_date 2017/01/01 · openalex created_date 2019/03/22 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
Version 2.0: In the Roman Republic, a dictatorship (dictatura in Latin) referred to an institution of constitutional law. In times of emergency the senate would temporarily grant a dictator extraordinary powers to defend and restore state order. This classic meaning was reshaped in various ways during the twentieth century. Dictatorship became an ambiguous term whose range of meanings could encompass positive expectations as well as moral condemnation. The modern concept of dictatorship has been used as both a self-descriptor as well as a label employed by others to describe communist, fascist and Nazi rule.