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Strongman (politics)

 

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Strongman (politics)



 
 
A strongman is a political leader who rules by force and runs an authoritarian regime. The term is often used interchangeably with "dictator
Dictator

A dictator is an authoritarian ruler who assumes sole and absolute power without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship....
," but differs from a "warlord
Warlord

A warlord is a person with power who has military dictatorship over a subnational area due to armed forces loyal to the warlord and not to a central authority....
".

A strongman is not necessarily always a formal Head of State
Head of State

Head of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchic or republican nation-state, federation, commonwealth or any other political state....
, however. Sometimes the term is used to describe a military or political figure who exercises far more influence over the government than is constitutionally allowed.






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Aug11 01
A strongman is a political leader who rules by force and runs an authoritarian regime. The term is often used interchangeably with "dictator
Dictator

A dictator is an authoritarian ruler who assumes sole and absolute power without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship....
," but differs from a "warlord
Warlord

A warlord is a person with power who has military dictatorship over a subnational area due to armed forces loyal to the warlord and not to a central authority....
".

A strongman is not necessarily always a formal Head of State
Head of State

Head of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchic or republican nation-state, federation, commonwealth or any other political state....
, however. Sometimes the term is used to describe a military or political figure who exercises far more influence over the government than is constitutionally allowed. General Manuel Noriega
Manuel Noriega

Manuel Antonio Noriega is a former Panamanian general and the military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989. He was never officially the president of Panama, but held the post of "chief executive officer" for a brief period in 1989....
, for example, was often dubbed the "Strongman of Panama" for the enormous amount of political power he exercised over Panama
Panama

Panama, officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America and, in turn, North America. Situated on an isthmus connecting North and South America, some categorize it as a transcontinental nation....
, despite the fact that he was not the formal president
President

President is a title held by many leaders of organizations, company, trade unions, university, and country. Etymology, a "president" is one who Wiktionary:Preside, who sits in leadership ....
 of the state. The same can be said for General Rahimuddin Khan
Rahimuddin Khan

General Rahimuddin Khan was the Martial law administrator and longest-serving Governor of Balochistan of Balochistan, the largest province of the Pakistan, from 1978 to 1984....
, often termed as the "Strongman of Balochistan
Balochistan (Pakistan)

Balochistan, or Baluchistan, is a Subdivisions of Pakistan in Pakistan, the largest in the country by geographical area; it is slightly smaller than Norway....
", whose post as martial law administrator was junior to that of then head of state, Zia-ul-Haq, but still phenomenally powerful.

General Rahimuddin Khan

Political figures referred to as "strongman"


  • Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
    Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

    Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, List of kings of Persia, , styled His Imperial Majesty, and holding the imperial titles of Shahanshah , and Aryamehr , was the monarchy of Iran from September 16, 1941, until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on February 11, 1979....
  • Fidel Castro
    Fidel Castro

    Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary leader who was prime minister of Cuba from February 1959 to December 1976 and then president, premier until his resignation from the office in February 2008....
  • Hugo Chavez
    Hugo Chávez

    Hugo Rafael Ch?vez Fr?as is the current President of Venezuela. As the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Ch?vez promotes a political doctrine of participatory democracy, socialism and Latin American and Caribbean cooperation....
  • Muammar al-Gaddafi
    Muammar al-Gaddafi

    Muammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi#Name also known as Colonel Gaddafi has been the de facto leader of Libya since a 1969 coup....
  • Saddam Hussein
    Saddam Hussein

    Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the President of Iraq of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003.A leading member of the revolutionary Ba'ath Party, which espoused secular pan-Arabism, economic modernization, and Arab socialism, Saddam played a key role in the 1968 coup that brought the party to long-term power....
  • Kim Jong Il
  • Paul Kagame
    Paul Kagame

    Paul Kagame is the current President of Rwanda. He rose to prominence as the leader of the Rwandan Patriotic Front , whose victory over the incumbent government in July 1994 effectively ended the Rwandan genocide....
  • Ferdinand Marcos
    Ferdinand Marcos

    Ferdinand Emmanuel Edral?n Marcos was President of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He was a lawyer, member of the Philippine House of Representatives and a member of the Philippine Senate ....
  • Slobodan Milosevic
  • Mahathir Muhammad
  • Pervez Musharraf
    Pervez Musharraf

    General Pervez Musharraf , Nishan-e-Imtiaz, Hilal-e-Imtiaz, Tamgha-e-Basalat, is a former President of Pakistan. Previously, he was Prime Minister of Pakistan as well as Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army of the Pakistan Army....
  • Manuel Noriega
    Manuel Noriega

    Manuel Antonio Noriega is a former Panamanian general and the military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989. He was never officially the president of Panama, but held the post of "chief executive officer" for a brief period in 1989....
  • Augusto Pinochet
  • Syngman Rhee
    Syngman Rhee

    Syngman Rhee or Yi Seungman was the first president of South Korea of South Korea. His presidency, from August 1948 to April 1960, remains controversial, affected by Cold War tensions on the Korean peninsula and elsewhere....
  • Mobutu Sese Seko
    Mobutu Sese Seko

    Mobutu Sese Seko Nkuku Ngbendu wa Za Banga , commonly known as Mobutu, or Mobutu Sese Seko , born Joseph-D?sir? Mobutu, was the Heads of state of the Democratic Republic of the Congo of Zaire for 32 years after deposing Joseph Kasavubu....
  • Hun Sen
    Hun Sen

    Hun Sen is the Prime Minister of Cambodia. His current, full, honorary title is: Samdech Akkak Moha Sena Pedey Decho. He is one of the key leaders of the Cambodian People's Party, which has governed Cambodia since the Vietnamese-backed overthrow of the Khmer Rouge in 1979....
  • Joseph Stalin
    Joseph Stalin

    Joseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1953....
  • Lee Kuan Yew
    Lee Kuan Yew

    Lee Kuan Yew, Order of St Michael and St George, Order of the Companions of Honour was the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore from 1959 to 1990....
  • Vladimir Putin
    Vladimir Putin

    Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was the second President of Russia and is the current Prime Minister of Russia as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus....
     (expected to retain large authority de facto even after his resignation as president on May 9 2008).
  • Caesar Augustus - one of the most known strongmen of history. Retained vast powers during a reign of over 40 years (later labeled to as emperor
    Emperor

    An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress is the female equivalent. As a title, "empress" may indicate the wife of an emperor or a woman who rules in her own right ....
    ), though he held various positions such as consul
    Consul

    Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Roman Empire. The title was also used in other city states, and revived in modern states, notably French Republic before the Napoleon I of Franceic counter-revolution....
    , censor
    Censor

    selfref|For Wikipedia's policy concerning censorship, see...
     and tribune
    Tribune

    Tribune was a title shared by 10 elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the exclusive right to propose legislation before it....
    .