Authoritarian breakdown -- how dictators fall | Dr. Natasha Ezrow | TEDxUniversityofEssex

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Two thirds of the world lives under dictatorship, yet we know very little about dictatorship. How are dictatorships different and how significant are the differences?
Dr Natasha Ezrow is a Senior Lecturer in Government at the University of Essex. She has recently completed a new book Failed States and Institutional Decay, and she published two books in 2011 on dictatorships. Dictators and Dictatorships is an introductory textbook and The Politics of Dictatorship is a research monograph on the duration of authoritarian regime types.
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[@zachrome91]

Deserves a lot more views. Excellent talk.

[@arman4440]

Anyone else who's living under a dictatorship watching this?

[@mnlalg8320]

🙋 - "the democratic people's republic of" - Algeria , while the entire world is preoccupied with coronavirus , our illegitimate system is busy arresting people for facebook posts , a guy who makes political memes on facebook was taken to jail just today

[@bukizzz]

@@mnlalg8320 Serbia is the same, plus money and medical equipment thefts, while our med workers work without masks, we have 700 infected doctors and are very close to not having anyone to treat us. Curfew, 12 hours a day, illegal constructions that we protested against(over a million people) are now being done freely because we cant leave our homes or risk 2 years of prison. We bang pans and pots on our windows at 20:05 every night in protest. It will pass, and they'll fall!

[@andramcdowell3193]

The USA with trump. I’ve lived in China India Egypt Vietnam Kuwait Bali and Thailand. I loved all of them.

[@davilimalol4612]

Yes /s I can't tell if I'm still joking.

[@Saiputera]

The irony dictatorship is more untied then liberal democracy countries lmao😂😂

[@nolaserv]

This lady hit it right on the nose. I loved her speech. Right to the point and no holding back. She is sooo... correct. FREEDOM WILL ALWAYS WIN no matter what! Communism ALWAYS fails. It can never surviive. Democracy rules no matter what country!

[@ishrendon6435]

Communism?? Thats a small percentage of dictatorships. Most nations are under dictatorship rule idk where you think democracy is spreading because according to data since 2006 democracies have been declining

[@ishrendon6435]

Again im womdering why mention communism lol most dictators arent communists. Stop being afraid of red

[@nolaserv]

@@ishrendon6435 You have 4 bsic dictatorships that are being run to the ground. Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, some in africa and even MR. BIG CHINA. Even the young want to see their dickey's Islam gone. So as you say a very "small" part of democracy is gone. Only bird brains want commy rule under dic's

[@bellatordei3440]

Democracy IS Communism! 😒

[@nolaserv]

@@bellatordei3440 Go live in Russia, China, Venezuela or Cuba. Pick any communist country you want and tell me that. That is why we (the USA) have massive illegal immigration issues⚠

[@MrKepongbaru]

I hope to hear more in depth and more update to this. This is great content!

[@ACityMaker]

This is more an explanations or types of dictatorships rather and how they fall. That part was very vage to understand how can this be achieved by people who are living in a dictatorship right now.

[@mutoto1234]

Everything here matches with my mother land Uganda .

[@Tsarly.505]

True

[@verdewolf]

Damn this sounds like my father. He has tried to control my life this whole time and I was clueless, when I thought he was giving me support, his end goal was to make sure I didn’t make it out without his help or approval

[@universalhologram7266]

Here we are in 2020 watching America go down the route of Authoritarianism. 😔

[@davij2727]

Exactly. Democratic party has been setting up a kuo during the obama admin and now with a loud mouth like trump in office its easier to try and oust him and the republican party. Destroying American history, Not respecting and allowing without obstruction our political positions to be filled opposing in any way to the dems. The control and influence of the media as a weapon to push there agenda. Fear mongering and bullying of the public with a plandemic. All of these things plus more are showing the exact direction.

[@tomcox1419]

@@davij2727 I think you may have missed the point.... Trump is the authoritarian leader, who is now ironically falsely claiming voter fraud in an effort to undermine democracy to stay in power. The Democrats, literally have Democrat in their name...

[@davij2727]

@@tomcox1419 lol the dems have Democrat in there name so they must be legitimate 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Trump is pushing the issue of voter fraud that would benefit every election in the future regardless of party. But yet he’s the bad guy. 🤦🏼‍♂️ We are a republic and we vote reps into place to do a job. So take the ideology elsewhere.

[@danlavine6477]

@@tomcox1419 So does the Democratic Republic of the Congo that doesn't make it legitimate lol

[@thomasalvarez6456]

@@tomcox1419 lmao

[@albertmora4290]

Great job, Professor Lindstaedt. Thanks for educating us. Al

[@benjaminsloniker3423]

Watching this in December, 2016 in the United States. Very interesting.

[@Ren-kei]

@evilempireUK Except the fact that 2007 Defense Appropriations Bill exists and the National guard and or ARMED FORCES will be called to fight The Civilians as an insurgency which the president has the Authority Prior it only used to be Mitilia aka Private Citizens now since amended uses public soldiers. Congress must be Notified of the Decision but the Decision is still executed within 14 days of determination. Sooo it depends if you decide to fight back can you survive against the armed forces for 14 days? No, This is A Dictatorship for the bourgeoisie the execute branch has to much power, the main goal of both parties is to give the execute all the power and take power away from every other part of government. slowly but effectively which has turned our country into an Authoritarian Dictatorship-Light.

[@RalphDratman]

@evilempireUK We now (in Feb 2020) know that the Republican Party was extremely weak heading into the 2016 election, just as Dr. Ezrow described. And the whole US democracy must be weak too, given how a personality cult formed so readily around Donald Trump. The idea that citizens who own guns would prevent any dictator from coming to power proved incorrect.

[@Schmaj01]

Ralph Dratman It’s now May 2020 and in the 3 months since your post things are so much worse. We’ve unbelievably in just that short time.lost thousands & thousands of our fellow citizens with no end in sight due to this sociopath’s behavior & lack of leadership during this pandemic including his sabotage of anyone who tries to step up and help lead us toward any improvement. It’s still a bit shocking to many of us I think that so many others fell for this crazy man-child & just beyond shameful that the GOP allowed & continue to allow the destruction of our democracy & fellow citizens. 😡

[@Mehhl81]

Both parties have been brainwashed by their respective media. The Democrats are not some saints. I don't know why you find it that interesting to have watched this video in December 2016. What I find interesting is how over the course of the past year Democrat governors have ran their states like dictators with full authoritarianism. So I'd like to actually see how you feel about this video now when you've seen how Democrats have thrown away their people's rights and states and really consolidated their power and started acting like the judicial branch and the executive branch

[@benjaminsloniker3423]

@@Mehhl81 "Authoritarianism is a form of government characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of a strong central power to preserve the political status quo, and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic voting. Political scientists have created many typologies describing variations of authoritarian forms of government. Authoritarian regimes may be either autocratic or oligarchic in nature and may be based upon the rule of a party or the military." Where people thought the rules were too strict, votes happened, and the people you think of as authoritarians were replaced, which is the opposite of what authoritarianism is. In places where the citizenry agreed with the actions taken, the politicians were retained. By a vote. And the rule of law. So, from what I can tell, what you're describing just... didn't happen.

[@user-hf6mx4qu3l]

This was 8 years ago. excellent talk.

[@dewdunning2278]

Me taking notes so I can be a better dictator

[@THEBIGGAME683]

me too.

[@hwar21]

LMAO

[@treuthconductor8979]

This was awesome, I would have never thought there was a class on this.

[@dboproductions2853]

This was leanly informative. Thank you, Dr. Ezrow. Good presentation! 👏

[@TRD315]

Excellent video Superb.

[@jhollis55lennie55]

bring it all down to personal relationships it is the same pattern works exactly the same, apply it to the narcissist same pattern, divide and conquer,

[@nicolii7321]

Well said. Thank you.

[@j2foot922]

This is golden.✨✨💯

[@Chef-vg4pu]

I have no idea how I got here. I was looking for a cream of broccoli soup recipe. And now 8 years later, after this video was uploaded, I’m thinking about dictators, very strange……. But thank you, Natasha.

[@3aZM]

You forgot some other types: 1) Theocracy like Iran. 2) Religious Nationalist regimes like Israel and Modi's India. 3) Corporate dictatorships supported by "colonial liberal democracies" like Augusto Pinochet of Chile. 4) Sectarian dictatorship like Lebanon.

[@michaelking9195]

True, but this was necessarily a summary. I hope to read this lady's book.

[@ynvaser7]

It was very interesting.

[@hmmmmm7499]

This is so pertinent, RIGHT NOW, I can barely keep my jaw off the floor. Dr. Ezrow called this EXACTLY, six years ago. This is your life, Donald Trump.

[@andramcdowell3193]

Doug McDonald yes it’s him exactly. It’s making me crazy. Every single freaking day every single moment. My wish my prayer 🙏 is for him his administration family gop anyone who has ever justified him or not spoken against this HATRIOT is to have them go away disappear. They can go to a private island 🌴 or to heaven. I just want to have them gone and some peace ☮️ and love ❤️ and just kinda normal.

[@siuabc]

And sadly, we are next and I could never thought this would happens…. 😢

[@splendor666]

It causes me concern that there is some points in this video that matches Bolsonaro's current government.

[@nunyabusiness5977]

Bolsonaro is a fascist

[@Keysha7Eleazer]

Love is the cure. Dictators are fearful of not having a grip on people. Freedom in others is his enemy. "Be free by/under me".

[@terrythompson7535]

Love isn't the cure. If it were, we should have been rid of these kind of people a long time ago. You cannot appeal to the empathy of people who have none. It is psychopaths. What we need is a scientific and medical cure for psychopathy. I believe that's what they were trying to do in "A Clockwork Orange" except now we can edit it from the gene pool using something like CRISPR.

[@Keysha7Eleazer]

@@terrythompson7535 I appreciate ur reply. However, It takes a higher perspective to help mankind. Some man made chemical will not cure man, but suppress.

[@terrythompson7535]

@@Keysha7Eleazer You cannot teach a "higher perspective" to psychopaths. You can change the chemical composition of their brains though. You have let your imagination get the best of you

[@herbertomacotoyamamuro2553]

I would like to know which type of Dictatorship promotes the development of nation and society and of not . Which are the differences

[@John-pg7yu]

Based on recent events reported from India, it seems it’s time to add India to the list. India (turning into Hindustan, like Pakistan) is becoming a fascist dictatorship in a disguise of a democracy. Human rights means nothing there and freedom an oblivion. If the ruling government wins again in the so claimed “unrigged” elections, coming in 2024, India will become the largest “democratic” dictatorship, with 1.4 billion people. That’s the irony no one understands. Fascists there are that good in deception. I encourage everyone to keep a close eye on India. It’s a good textbook on how the institutions that were placed to protect freedom led to the destruction of the same. It’s a good lesson on what to do and what not to do to keep a democracy alive. Most importantly, it tells a story of how silence of people lead to the death of a democracy.

[@jesusjimenezhernandez7163]

Dictators and dictatorships are different!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 💯

[@nasj7704]

Plz add the Iranian regime with islamic republic

[@abdelrahim5184]

What about Paul Biya of Cameroon? Because you're talking of all I see him do "Head of the Army"

[@dan-1617]

The Aliyev regime in Azerbaijan is a kind of hybrid mixture of one person and monarchy.

[@isaatakishiyev4141]

Agree, Aliyev is a hybrid

[@alterego8496]

Dictatorship is not a system or a policy like communism or capitalism or other. Dictatorship is banning criticism of that policy or system. No dictatorship can take criticism there will come a point even regime supporters up above will say thats bad. That will lead to soft coup of dictator or a violent revolution

[@anna_in_aotearoa3166]

That's a really interesting definition! 👍Encourages us to be mindful that degrees of dictatorship can arise in any type of political system, albeit possibly with differing levels of speed. Not just applicable to nation-states either, but any collective, whether a family, corporation, or even NGO.

[@mubasheerar3949]

Great

[@endukuemora8679]

Slide at 5:00 - 6:00. Text book steps followed by current (2019) occupant of USA Whitehouse.

[@SargetheHeelerandLisa]

Yes

[@ma7ur97]

as a history tells us dictators fall when pepole had enogh

[@stayhard546]

Correction.. Its General Museveni for Uganda 🇺🇬..

[@arrowstheorem1881]

Dictatorships are better only in that others get bad news but dictatorships get good news on their newspapers

[@braxtonjackson_]

My political science teacher told me to watch this

[@VincentGill3]

Checkout this video: The Greatest Speech Ever Made - Charlie Chaplin (the reluctant dictator) Best wishes

[@terrythompson7535]

That's a good one, but the real issue is psychopaths. You cannot appeal to the empathy of people who scientifically and medically are incapable of empathy. I think we need a cure for psychopathy, or edit it out of the gene pool using something like CRISPR.

[@hongphucnguyenbuiphuchands6480]

yeah

[@johndough2028]

woul love to have lunch with the speaker and chat and pick her mind on subjects and history

[@mattstroker3742]

A video about Europe, the USA, China and Russia.

[@idjrod49]

Only ours is still in office.

[@nachtwandeling1237]

"single party"

[@abidbahar7508]

I am surprised that Sheikh Muibur Rahman of Bangladesh was not included in this list of dictators.

[@mariajoseorozco6132]

There were not Any dictator named Alarcon in Nicaragua

[@onuryetisklc404]

What about the tall man in Turkey?

[@denisechupik5700]

Yes Canada

[@armandos.rodriguez6608]

Humanity,are we at a crossroad to Planetary Peace ????

[@brettneuberger6466]

Well, well, well. Who’da thank it possible in the land of the free.

[@mlfelonzo9156]

Watching this after wat is having in Zimbabwe all the abuse on the people from a dictator to a dictator 😑

[@briang6088]

She talked about a lot of dictatorships but didn't mentioned Cuba

[@caim3465]

one party dictatorships actually seem like a good idea to me...

[@mikedematteo4672]

Does the coup proofing and preference for chaos and weak institutions explain why Libya and Iraq collapsed after Gaddaffi's and Hussein's removal from power? Or were other reasons a bigger factor?

[@idjrod49]

Is she also a prophet, predicting the state we are in now.?

[@AvengerIl]

Victorian Dictatorship of Dan Andrews here.

[@abdourjawara022]

We got rid of the unknown worst dictator of Africa, Yaya Jammeh from the Gambia 🇬🇲 with a coalition of political parties.

[@jamesrobare522]

Really ,This is what has begun to take root in Tanzania very rapidly and democracy highly declining in our country than ever before.The regime is deeply worsening political ground and very soon Tanzania will be single party state.We call upon the international communities to interfere on rapid declining of democracy in Tanzania before it becomes worse and hard to control!!

[@bellatordei3440]

Monarchy is literally the opposite of a dictatorship 😒

[@totalfree8740]

Dictatorships are of different types. So they could be considered same in some cases.

[@bellatordei3440]

@@totalfree8740 In order to exist a dictatorship there must be the moral collectivist concept of "people"

[@moroccanguy1957]

Arab subtitles please. Thank's

[@RalphDratman]

Remarkably, this talk was presented by Dr. Natasha Ezrow (a few years later called Dr. Natasha Lindstaedt, presumably by marriage) before Donald Trump ran for President!

[@bellatordei3440]

She missed one kind of dictatorship - liberal dictatorship 😔

[@nakalembehamidah828]

why is Idi Amin always mentioned yet Museveni the worst president Uganda has ever had is never talked about

[@ellenaeller3373]

Because he is still alive. They don't want to expose him yet

[@SargetheHeelerandLisa]

Everything she is saying about the personal dictator is Trump!!! He also has family in his dictatorship

[@veronicalynch1311]

Obviously a First-world view of dictatorship... Needs an update and input from people that HAVE LIVED in a dictatorship. Sadly, this is part of my college program so I had to watch it all :(

[@mopozuJIko]

what would you want to hear from the people who have lived under dictatorship? I agree on every point with the speaker and it's scary how accurately she described the current leader of my country. That's my first-hands input. On the other note: people who support democracy and oppose dictatorships will share similiar values no matter where they live, so this point of view won't change much.

[@michaelking9195]

It depends on whether the ruler(s) care about the people, or ar least the people's perception of it. But dictatorial regimes don't welcome outsiders asking their populace about whether their dictatorship is benevolent, since they want to promote the idea that it is.

[@kareemkouta205]

The military part is totally wrong! You need to check nasr at Egypt and military is still ruling till today.

[@0o603]

Not true as uk is also a monarchy with huge powers. The army the police etc also have to swear loyalty to one person.. elected pm's don't have to have majority of votes.... and MPs must swear loyalty to the monarch or they loose ability to represent those who elected them. And in most cases two party democracies are so similar and so inter linked that they are effectively one party....

[@xnirvanaXnevermindx]

fuerzas chilenos

[@bftb]

QT.

[@kisskissnomnom]

Where's the mention of Putin?

[@mamatoshum]

This speaker must not know about Cameroon. Paul Biya is one of oldest dictator in Africa

[@dumdumyumyum1888]

Was polpot a dictator

[@Jesus-he5jr]

If you're an indian and watching this...Dude! You're conscious.. do atleast 1 thing in favour of promoting democracy! Our rank in democracy is going downward, we're losing our rights!

[@alvaroredmond7184]

Good talk however she is wrong about military regimes time in power. Generals like to stay in power as much as they can.

[@rosssmart365]

can dictators only be men? why is she only referencing him/he?

[@theodoreroosevelt8261]

You ever seen a dictator that's a woman?

[@banksofnoon7867]

I am living in Singapore now. People can call "Singapore" whatever names they want to but they cannot deny that Singapore government worked very hard to keep everyone safe, both Singaporeans and Foreigners--including migrant workers, especially during the Covid time. I would not choose any other countries. The so-called free countries would treat a portion of their population as expendables because of "freedom", but not Singapore.

[@laykhom3212]

When it comes to dictatorship you forgot to mention Cambodia.

[@Saiputera]

I don't remember china, north Korea ect.. dictator government going down anytime soon🤔😂😂😂😂

[@jefferylockhart62]

Lots of similarities to the direction trump is going

[@SP-dr7es]

People in this comment section really think Trump is a dictator just because they disagree with the guy

[@AstraFulminous]

No. They know what Trump's after. Stop protecting him

[@SP-dr7es]

@@AstraFulminous and what do you believe is he after?

[@kwaleikafa9400]

I was born & raised in an extremely poor country in Africa. If I myself were a political leader of a country, I would also be a "Dictator". Democracy and Capitalism have defamed, contaminated and damaged a lot of countries on this planet. High levels of violent crime, corruption, unemployment, extreme poverty, extreme disease, pollution, food shortages, lack of basic essentials, poor health care systems, dilapidated education facilities and frequent deaths among the people are just the many common problems found in many failed states around the world. Democracy and Capitalism are supposed to work in theory! But the truth of the matter is that in reality these two concepts do not work in many cases.

[@terrythompson7535]

What's an example of a system other than that which works and does not have investors behind it? Communism/Socialism is just capitalism with assigned monopolies.

[@spr6065]

Ok are you living in a prallel world?

[@janswee1]

She keeps saying secession…instead of succession.

[@eliyahubenysrael6272]

This aged way too well...

[@12Radius]

Sounds what trumpf just tried to do 2020. The GOP& Bill Barrr helped him!!

[@prideepvincent2272]

And i am from India.. if u know what i mean...

[@ProudIndian2024]

Broo, from India😢 I can feel your pain,

[@kaguillermo5767]

She sounds like a hard headed kid.

[@onekerri1]

Is she scared to be talking about O'bomber this way?

[@daveslick3969]

Many parallels to our president in the USA 2019

[@bellechocolate6064]

Dump Trump

[@Alina-vt7oq]

How about Fidel Castro

[@opto3010]

You should have studied better. Even I would have done a better research. No word how a Diktator runs a country. How the most Diktator were installed. And how much support they get from abroad.

[@samanthan1510]

learn how to spell before you judge someones studying

[@rapauli]

Oh jeekers.

[@CarolineATRC]

Watching in 2019 November, Xi Jinping now has no term limits, could be president for life.

[@hollowlove758]

Ugh.

[@SimonAshworthWood]

Still more Democratic than the oligarchic USA. In China, the govt does much more what the people want than in the USA.

[@lisilein2]

Not the complete absence of female dictators.

[@jamesbrown2761]

She's walking on egg shells & is afraid to tell it like it is.

[@lwgg742]

She's still doing it though. Are you doing something?

[@jefferylockhart62]

And now our eyes are opening what's the difference between us and China

[@Galaxia53]

@@jefferylockhart62 If you're talking about the US then the US got two parties, and a bunch of suppressed small parties. Which is better than one party like China. But still only one party away from a one party system which would be a dictatorship.

[@asalane20]

Her information is as thorough and specific as one can get for a TED talk. She was extremely pointed and efficient in her presentation.

[@brummbrumm8344]

@@Galaxia53 well thats one of the dumbest thing i have ever heard

[@tharealrebels]

“Hunta” cmon on white folks! 😵

[@craigwatson4460]

Watching this after the Trump presidency and...

[@cherylcarlson3315]

Today this sounds like trump blue print.scary

[@patrickvernon4766]

How do liberal oligarchies fall?

[@oasis408]

Wow this is so Putin

[@hotknifealice1]

SO Putin, Trump,, ETC.!

[@ProudIndian2024]

Soo Modi😢