When considering this question, we need to distinguish between the pomposities of monarchies and the purpose they serve as checks on untrammelled authoritarianism.
Protests against social security reforms in Nicaragua quickly gained traction. Now, even the Catholic Church is suggesting ‘democratization’ may be on the horizon.
Reuters/Oswaldo Rivas
For 11 years, Daniel Ortega’s regime has been unshakable. But Nicaragua’s autocratic leader is vulnerable after weeks of deadly protest. Now, some citizens are calling for him to resign.
Joseph Goebbels, left, shows the ‘people’s receiver’ to Adolf Hitler at a radio exhibition in 1933.
Badische Zeitung
Cuba has a new president — and for the first time in six decades his last name is not Castro. Who is Miguel Díaz-Canel, the man who inherits a Cuba born of Fidel’s 1959 revolution?
Bolivia’s Evo Morales and Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro are both classic Latin American strongmen. But that’s where the similarities end.
David Mercado/Reuters
Bolivia’s populist leader has been in office for 12 years. He’s a thorn in the US’s side and an ally of the late Hugo Chávez. Now he’s running for a fourth term. But that doesn’t make him a dictator.
Theresa May meets the Saudi leadership – one of her country’s biggest weapons buyers.
Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire/PA Images
The State of the Union address, a traditional exercise for US presidents was marked this year by a great divergence on tone and words, showing the clear dictatorial style of the American leader.
Rodrigo Duterte’s authoritarianism has progressed from death squads and martial law to cracking down on press freedom.
A day after Donald Trump met with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, he told lawmakers the U.S. should have more immigrants from places like Norway and not “shithole” countries like Haiti.
AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Donald Trump’s language has disturbing similarities to the words and verbal tactics used by fascists, including his cries of “fake news” and his obsessive exaggerations about his achievements.
Venezuela’s ruling Socialist Party won 39 of 40 major mayoral races on Dec. 10. A victorious President Nicolás Maduro is now likely to call a snap presidential election early next year. Can he win?
How does a regime with 20 percent approval win reelection?
Christian Veron/Reuters
President Nicolás Maduro has announced he will run for reelection, a sign that Venezuela’s authoritarian regime now has an electoral strategy for beating the opposition.
Swearing in Venezuela’s newly elected state governors.
EPA/Miguel Gutierrez
By resorting to all means necessary, Nicolás Maduro’s government has clawed its way back from the brink of collapse.
People ride tricycle carts past a poster featuring Chinese President Xi Jinping along a street in Beijing. China’s ruling Communist Party has praised President Xi as a Marxist thinker, adding to intense propaganda promoting Xi’s personal image as he begins a second five-year term as leader.
(AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Chinese President Xi Jinping has been enshrined in the Communist Party’s constitution as the sole legitimate interpreter of Chinese Marxism for the “new era.” Now he can look to the rest of the world.
Bishop Desmond Tutu during South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission process.
Reuters
Inquests into atrocities committed under apartheid are important because many South Africans are beginning to question whether justice was done under the country’s truth and reconciliation process.