Dictatorship and oligarchy

A dictatorship is where one person (or a small group) has total power, with no limits from any constitution or law. The 20th century had many dictators who made life very hard for people.

Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933. Soon he passed laws giving himself full power and got rid of the opposition. He was now a dictator. He believed his people were superior and should rule the world over 'inferior races'.

He was responsible for killing at least six million Jews (the Holocaust) and hundreds of thousands of Roma and others. He also caused World War II (1939–1945), with huge loss of life and property.

The Roma (Romani people) were once nomads. From their language and culture, scholars have found that they came from India! They first settled in eastern Europe and now live in many countries.

Idi Amin was a military dictator in Uganda, responsible for killing thousands of people. Many Indians whose families had lived in Uganda for generations were forced to flee.

What is life like inside a dictatorship? Shane lives in North Korea:

• he's in compulsory military service, for as long as the government decides
• rules say how to cut his hair and what to wear
• he can't use the global internet, so he doesn't know about the outside world
• the government watches everything he does, and he must report anyone breaking rules

"We all want to try new styles, but the government decides how we keep our hair."

Oligarchy comes from Greek: olígos = a few, árkhō = to rule. A small, powerful group, usually rich families or influential people, makes all the big decisions. Some parts of ancient Greece were ruled this way by aristocratic families.

A warning: commentators say even some democracies show signs of oligarchy when a small group of politicians and wealthy businesspeople get too much influence. A democracy can drift towards rule by a few without changing its name.