Right-wing dictatorship

A right-wing dictatorship (sometimes also referred to as a rightist dictatorship) is an authoritarian (or sometimes totalitarian) regime whose policy could be called rightist.

There are various definitions of the term "rightist." The broadest one includes all dictatorships that do not consider themselves communist. Those are usually pro-capitalist in economic matters and conservative in ideological ones.

The term fascist dictatorship is sometimes used interchangeably with the right-wing one. It is commonly accepted that Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy were ruled by fascist governments at some points of their history; how it refers to other right-wing regimes is a question of further debate. The Estado Novo in Portugal was a right-wing dictatorship which was corporatist in nature (much like Mussolini's fascism). Most South American dictatorships, during the second half of the 20th century, were right-wing: Pinochet, the Brazilian Military Government, etc. There have also been a number of military dictatorships installed by anti-communists which were generally conservative and rightist.

Military government

In the most common Western view, the perfect example of a right-wing dictatorship is any of those that once ruled in South America. Those regimes were predominantly military juntas and most of them collapsed in the 1980s. Communist countries, which were very cautious about not revealing their authoritarian methods of rule to the public, were usually led by civilian governments and officers taking power were not much welcomed there. Few exceptions include the Burmese Way to Socialism (Burma, 19661988), the Military Council of National Salvation (People's Republic of Poland, 19811983) or the North Korean regime's evolution throughout the rule of Kim Il-sung.

Religion and the government

Most right-wing regimes kept strong ties with local Churches (usually the Roman Catholic ones since most of those regimes happened in Catholic countries). This policy of a strong Church-state alliance is usually referred to as Austrofascism. The most pro-Catholic dictatorships were Portugal (19331974) and the Federal State of Austria (19341938). Non-Christian dictatorships include those in the Muslim world; the most famous being Iran since the revolution of 1979. There are several other examples of theocratic (and, therefore, right-wing) regimes in the region, like Somalia or Afghanistan under the Taliban. While it is unclear whether a monarchy could be called a dictatorship, theocratic absolute monarchies of Saudi Arabia or Vatican City share many similarities with the regimes mentioned above. Many of those are/were led by spiritual leaders; examples include the Slovak Republic under the Reverend Josef Tiso or Iran under the Ayatollahs Khomeini (19791989) and Khamenei (1989present). Some right-wing dictatorships, like the pre-revolutionary Pahlavis' Iranian regime, were even openly anti-religious.

Europe

In some post-communist countries, people involved in the previous regime took power in the years following the end of the Cold War. The most famous example of a European dictatorship of that sort is Belarus under Alexander Lukashenko. Belarus and Azerbaijan were both considered "authoritarian regimes" by the Democracy Index as of 2008. Freedom House marks them "not-free states" together with Russia, so whether Russia is a dictatorship or just a seriously flawed democracy is a question of further debate. All three governments are non-communist and, especially in Russia, sometimes stay in total opposition to the communist parties. Therefore, they could be called right-wing as well.

List of European right-wing dictatorships

Considering a right-wing dictatorship any non-democratic (non-parliamentary or pseudo-parliamentary political system, suppression of basic freedoms such as association and speech, prosecution of opponents, etc.) regime that is not communist, the list of European examples would be as following:

Country Historical name(s) Movement(s) Years of rule Dictator(s)
 Albania Principality of Albania, Albanian Republic, Albanian Kingdom None 19221939 Zog
 Austria Federal State of Austria Fatherland's Front 19341938 Engelbert Dollfuss, Kurt Schuschnigg
 Azerbaijan Republic of Azerbaijan New Azerbaijan Party 1993present Heydar Aliyev, Ilham Aliyev
 Bulgaria Kingdom of Bulgaria None
  • 1923–1926
  • 1934–1945
 Croatia
  • 1941–1945
  • 1990–1999
 Cyprus Republic of Cyprus EOKA B 1974 Nikos Sampson
 Estonia Republic of Estonia None 19341940[2] Konstantin Päts
 France French State Collaborationist government 19401944 Philippe Pétain
 Georgia Republic of Georgia Union of Citizens of Georgia 19952003 Eduard Shevardnadze
 Germany Third Reich NSDAP 19331945 Adolf Hitler
 Greece
  • 1925–1926
  • 1936–1941
  • 1941–1944
  • 1967–1974
 Hungary Kingdom of Hungary
  • 1920–1944
  • 1944–1945
 Italy
  • 1922-1943
  • 1943–1945
 Latvia Republic of Latvia Latvian Farmers' Union (disbanded after coup) 19341940 Kārlis Ulmanis
 Lithuania Republic of Lithuania Lithuanian Nationalist Union 19261940 Antanas Smetona
 Netherlands Reichskommissariat Niederlande National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands 19401945 Anton Mussert
 Norway Reichskommissariat Norwegen Nasjonal Samling 19401945 Vidkun Quisling
 Poland Second Polish Republic Sanation 1926–1939 Józef Piłsudski and Piłsudski's colonels
 Portugal
  • 1915
  • 1917–1918
  • 1926–1933
  • 1933–1974
 Romania Kingdom of Romania
  • 1938–1940
  • 1940–1941
  • 1941–1944
 Serbia Serbia 19411945 Milan Nedić
 Slovakia
  • 1939–1945
  • 1994–1998
 Spain
  • 1923–1930
  • 1939–1977
 Yugoslavia Kingdom of Yugoslavia 19291941
^ Semi-authoritarian regime.
^ Semi-authoritarian regime in the years 19381940.
^ Semi-authoritarian regime.

Asia

List of Asian right-wing dictatorships

Country Historical name(s) Movement(s) Years of rule Dictator(s)
 Republic of China Republic of China Kuomintang 19251989
 South Korea Republic of Korea Various 19611987
 Japan Empire of Japan Imperial Rule Assistance Association 1930s1945
 Philippines Republic of the Philippines 19651986 Ferdinand Marcos
 Cambodia 19681975 Lon Nol

See also

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