The concept of autocracy is a political concept that is used to designate those types of governments in which power is concentrated in a single person and that, therefore, the participation of other individuals or social groups is not allowed, that individual he agglutinates in his person the power of total decision.
Government system in which power is concentrated in a single person and other powers and voices are cut off to stay
Autocracy was a very characteristic system of different moments in the history of Humanity and although today the most common form of government is democracy, this does not prevent some political figures, once they assume power within the framework of a democratic system, eventually deploy an autocratic government.
When this state of affairs happens, it is common for them to be imposed on the other powers, judicial and legislative, in order to stay in power indefinitely.
The word autocracy comes from the Greek for which the term cars means "oneself" and Kratos means "government". This gives us to understand that the autocracy is the government of only one.
Main features
Autocracy is a type of government that, whether sought or not, becomes the government of a single person. That person can be of different origin: military, professional, union, etc. In other words, this is not a determining element since throughout history the different autocracies have had leaders of different social extraction.
However, an undoubtedly determining element is the personality and character of the person who will become a leader: it must always be a person of strong and decisive character, whose plans or decisions are firmly imposed.
Furthermore, for an autocracy to develop, there must not be any kind of opposition, or at least it must be very weak. This is the reason why all autocratic governments demonstrate zero tolerance and repression towards those who show dissent with respect to the policies and decisions taken.
Another interesting element of autocracies is that they can be generated within other types of governments, for example as happens with autocratic governments that arise within democratic forms. This is the case of leaders that emerge and are erected as part of a party proposal, chosen through free and democratic elections but that, once they have come to power, that leader becomes a centralist and authoritarian person.
Autocracy in democracies, a constant of yesterday and today
In the past and today we find ample examples of presidents who take office after winning the elections, and then, over time, turn towards autocracy, and to consolidate they eliminate parliament and also tie hands and feet to justice so that it cannot act against you and yes, of course, always do it in your favor. For example, imprisoning those leaders who speak out against them, acting against the press and a company that is not addicted to their power.
In recent years, the situation we describe has been seen frequently in Venezuela, first in the administration of Hugo Chávez and then in the continuation of his policy by his successor Nicolás Maduro.
Both came to power by popular vote, however, they have exercised power in an autocratic way. In principle, they have taken care of silencing the political opposition with severe persecution and finally imprisoning us, for no other reason than to be an opposition, but of course, since they have an addicted justice it is possible for them to do so and that is why today Venezuela has political prisoners , who are imprisoned for nothing more than for thinking differently from Chávez and Maduro.
They have also been able to create a single story, their own, which gives an account of the benefits of their regime, silencing the independent press through various tricks, such as buying media and financially drowning those independent, who showed the other side. of history.
The damage that this type of way of managing generates is certainly relevant because without a doubt it directly undermines the fundamental rights of freedom and equality, not to mention the level of resentment and division that it is capable of generating in society, among which They are on one side and those who support the other.
