Aright-wing dictatorship, sometimes also referred to as arightist dictatorship is anauthoritarian ortotalitarian regime following right-wing policies.Right-wing dictatorships are typically characterized byanti-communism, appeals totraditionalism, the protection oflaw and order,nationalism, and justify their rise to power based on a need to uphold a conservativestatus quo.
In the most common Western view, the perfect example of a right-wing dictatorship is any of those that once ruled in South America.[according to whom?] 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.[citation needed] Few exceptions include theBurmese Way to Socialism (Burma, 1966–1988), theMilitary Council of National Salvation (People's Republic of Poland, 1981–1983) or the North Korean regime's evolution throughout the rule ofKim Il Sung.
Many right-wing regimes kept strong ties with local clerical establishments. This policy of a strong Church-state alliance is often referred to asClerical fascism. Pro-Catholic dictatorships included theEstado Novo (1933–1974) and theFederal State of Austria (1934–1938). Many of those are/were led by spiritual leaders, such as theSlovak Republic under the ReverendJozef Tiso. Some right-wing dictatorships, likeNazi Germany, were openly hostile to certain religions.[1]
The existence of right-wing dictatorships in Europe are largely associated with the rise offascism. The conditions created byWorld War I and its aftermath gave way both torevolutionary socialism andreactionary politics. Fascism arose as part of the reaction to the socialist movement, in attempt to recreate a perceivedstatus quo ante bellum.[3] Right-wing dictatorships in Europe were mostly destroyed with theAllied victory inWorld War II, although some continued to exist in Southern Europe until the 1970s.
Right-wing dictatorships in Asia emerged during the early 1930s,[77] as military regimes seized power from local constitutional democracies and monarchies. The phenomenon soon spread to other countries with themilitary occupations driven by the militarist expansion of theEmpire of Japan. After the end ofWorld War II, Asian right-wing dictatorships took on a decidedlyanti-communist role in theCold War, with many beingbacked by the United States.
Right-wing dictatorships largely emerged in Central America and the Caribbean during the early 20th century. Sometimes they arose to provide concessions to American corporations such as theUnited Fruit Company, forming regimes that have been described as "banana republics".[174] North American right-wing dictatorships were instrumental in suppressing their countries'labour movements and institutingcorporatist economies. During theCold War, these right-wing dictatorships were characterized by a distinctanti-communist ideology, and often rose to power through US-backed coups. Many of the right-wing dictatorships that existed in South America started a campaign of political repression known asOperation Condor which involved intelligence operations, coups, and assassinations of left-wing sympathizers in South America. Operation Condor formally existed from 1975 to 1983 and it was supported by the United States.
List of Latin American and Caribbean right-wing dictatorships
Africa has experienced several military dictatorships which makes up the majority of right-wing dictatorships that have existed.[citation needed][262] Dictatorships like the hereditary dictatorship in Togo (especially under Gnassingbé Eyadéma) had strong anti-communist and pro-Western stances which are in contrast to left-wing governments that existed in other African nations around the time.[citation needed][263] Regimes like Zaire and Rwanda under Habyarimana have sometimes been called fascist. Zaire featured what their dictator called a "neither right nor left" position but was recognized by historians as a right-wing regime and its state ideology ofMobutism has sometimes been seen as a Third Position ideology.[264][265][266][267][268] Rwanda under Habyarimana has been compared to fascist regimes such as Nazi Germany for their Hutu supremacist policies against the Tutsi's as well as theRwandan genocide that occurred after the assassination of Habyarimana sometimes being compared to the Holocaust.[citation needed][269]
^Whether Chiang Kai-shek's early rule can be seen as a 'right-wing' dictatorship is debatable. During the 1920s and early 1930s, Chiang and supporters was seen as a 'centrist'[152][153] among 'right-wing'Hu Hanmin supporters and 'left-wing'Wang Jingwei supporters, but theChinese Communist Party (orMaoism) later emerged as the main rival of the KMT, making Chiang's rule a 'right-wing' dictatorship. Other historians argue that Chiang's ideology differed from 'right-wing' dictators of the 20th century and that he did not espouse the ideology of fascism.[154]
^Gottfried, Ted (2001).Heroes of the Holocaust. Twenty-First Century Books. pp. 24–25.ISBN9780761317173. Retrieved14 January 2017.Some groups that are known to have helped Jews were religious in nature. One of these was the Confessing Church, a Protestant denomination formed in May 1934, the year after Hitler became chancellor of Germany. One of its goals was to repeal the Nazi law "which required that the civil service would be purged of all those who were either Jewish or of partly Jewish descent." Another was to help those "who suffered through repressive laws, or violence". About 7,000 of the 17,000 Protestant clergy in Germany joined the Confessing Church. Much of their work has one unrecognized, but two who will never forget them are Max Krakauer and his wife. Sheltered in sixty-six houses and helped by more than eighty individuals who belonged to the Confessing Church, they owe them their lives. German Catholic churches went out of their way to protect Catholics of Jewish ancestry. More inclusive was the principled stand taken by Catholic Bishop Clemens Count von Galen of Munster. He publicly denounced the Nazi slaughter of Jews and actually succeeded in having the problem halted for a short time. ... Members of the Society of Friends—GermanQuakers working with organizations of Friends from other countries—were particularly successful in rescuing Jews. ... Jehovah's Witnesses, themselves targeted for concentration camps, also provided help to Jews.
^Kevin Passmore (2013).The Right in France from the Third Republic to Vichy. OUP Oxford. pp. 350–351.ISBN9780199658206.
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^Clogg, Richard "The Ideology of the "revolution of 21 April 1967'" p.36-58 fromGreece Under Military Rule edited by Richard Clogg & George Yannopoloulos; London: Secker & Warburg, 1971 p.41.
^Μεγάλη Στρατιωτικὴ καὶ Ναυτικὴ Ἐγκυκλοπαιδεία. Tόμος Πέμπτος: Νάβα–Σαρακηνοί [Great Military and Naval Encyclopaedia. Volume V: Nave–Saracens] (in Greek). Athens: Ἔκδοσις Μεγάλης Στρατιωτικῆς καὶ Ναυτικῆς Ἐγκυκλοπαιδείας. 1930. pp. 214–215.OCLC31255024.
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^Aristotle A. Kallis,Fascist ideology: territory and expansionism in Italy and Germany, 1922–1945. London, England; New York City, USA: Routledge, 2000. Pp. 41.
^Eidintas, Alfonsas; Žalys, Vytautas; Senn, Alfred Erich (1999). Tuskenis, Edvardas (ed.).Lithuania in European Politics: The Years of the First Republic, 1918–1940 (Paperback ed.). New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 117–125.ISBN0-312-22458-3.
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^Crises in Authoritarian Regimes: Fragile Orders and Contested Power. Campus Verlag. 2022. p. 219.ISBN9783593449685.... politically, the May Coup was directed against the liberal democracy as the political system that made possible the rule andde facto hegemony of the well-organized nationalist right.
^E. Garrison Walters (1988).The Other Europe: Eastern Europe to 1945. Syracuse University Press.ISBN9780815624400....Piłsudski's domestic policies can be described as conservative and improvisational.
^Fernando Pessoa (1918). "À memoria do Presidente-Rei Sidónio Pais". Quoted in Darlene Joy Sadler (1998),An Introduction to Fernando Pessoa: Modernism and the Paradoxes of Authorship. Gainesville etc.: University of Florida Press, p. 45.
^Payne, Stanley G. (1995).A History of Fascism, 1914–1945. University of Wisconsin Press. p. 392.
^Haynes, Rebecca "Reluctant Allies? Iuliu Maniu and Corneliu Zelea Codreanu against King Carol II of Romania" pages 105–134 fromThe Slavonic and East European Review, Volume 85, Issue # 1, January 2007 pages 108–125.
^Nielsen, Christian Axboe (2009). "Policing Yugoslavism: Surveillance, Denunciations, and Ideology during King Aleksandar's Dictatorship, 1929–1934".East European Politics and Societies.23 (1):34–62.doi:10.1177/0888325408326789.S2CID145765948.
^Farley, Brigit, "King Aleksandar and the Royal Dictatorship in Yugoslavia," in Bernd J. Fischer (ed),Balkan Strongmen: Dictators and Authoritarian Rulers of Southeastern Europe (West Lafayette, IN, 2007) (Central European Studies), 51–86.
^"Another Strongman? Masculine Governmentality, Neoliberalism, and Authoritarian Traditionalism in Aliyev's Azerbaijan | Feminism and Gender Democracy".feminism-boell.org. Retrieved31 July 2025.Aliyev's authoritarian strategies are a sour blend of anti-feminist and anti-democratic policies, aligning with the prevalent trend of right-wing authoritarianism embodied by the global emergence of "strongmen" like Putin, Erdoğan, Modi, and many others...Since late 2023, the Azerbaijani government has intensified its crackdowns against civil society by arresting a number of journalists, scholars, labour rights and anti-war activists, continuing its periodic repressions. Consequently, today, the number of political prisoners in Azerbaijan is up to 300, the highest it has been since the early 2000s.
^"Azerbaijan: Nations in Transit 2023 Country Report".Freedom House. Retrieved31 July 2025.In 2022, the government of Azerbaijan continued to scale up the authoritarian measures deployed in previous years. The executive branch maintained its consolidated power and demonstrated an unwillingness to conduct real democratic reforms. The national legislature and local municipalities remained powerless and incompetent institutions as they carried out their activities under the directives of the presidential office.
^"Free, Fair & Regular Elections: Azerbaijan | Democracy Web".www.democracyweb.org. Retrieved31 July 2025.While Heydar Aliyev, the ex-Soviet communist party and KGB chief, put in place the basic features of Azerbaijan's dictatorship, his son Ilham has successfully institutionalized and extended its repressive features.
^"Azerbaijan's Aliyev lines up with Russia and Trump, admits Georgia interference".www.intellinews.com. 19 December 2024. Retrieved31 July 2025.The interview signalled Aliyev's alignment with rightwing, illiberal leaders such as Putin and Trump...Aliyev gave a clear nod to emerging global right-wing narratives, underscoring the importance of "traditional values" as a cornerstone of Azerbaijan's identity and a point of alignment with Russia.
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Alla, Malumud Ata (1974).Arab Struggle for Economic Independence. Progress. p. 62.This struggle sharpened after the Right-wing Baathists seized power in Iraq in 1963 and instituted a reign of terror against the Communists and other progressive forces, which considerably weakened the influence of the Baath Party in all the Arab countries.
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