Dictators must have enemies. They must have internal enemies to justify their secret police and external enemies to justify their military forces.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Dictators create enemies to justify repression and military power. This explains how authoritarian regimes maintain control.
- In plain terms
- Dictators make enemies to justify force and control.
- What can you take from it?
- Authoritarianism often relies on fabricated threats.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do regimes justify power?
- Why fear create enemies?
Another view
Not all leaders with enemies are dictators.
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