A form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)

Usage examples of authoritarianism.

Iraqis resented its authoritarianism and its supression of honest dissent.

The authoritarianism of one man is crime and the authoritarianism of many men is the State.

If authoritarianism did not possess the in-built, preprogrammed double-bind structure of a Game Without End, men would long ago have rejected it and embraced libertarianism.

The long tradition of authoritarianism in Middle East politics is related to the persistence of tribelike affiliations.

Middle East, came in two very distinct forms: one form I call gentle authoritarianism, the other brutal authoritarianism.

The more popular support the Ottoman rulers garnered through the ages, the more they sought to sustain their authoritarianism without resort to force, but instead by building bridges to key sectors of the societies they ruled, by allowing others to share in the spoils and by never totally vanquishing their opponents, but instead always leaving them a way out so that they might one day be turned into friends.

I describe the Ottoman tradition as gentle authoritarianism, I am referring to its golden age and most idealized form.

We'll use knives and before they even have time to bury you tonight I'm goin' to have your stooges kicked out and replaced with men who'll give us competent leadership instead of blunderin' authoritarianism.

Their party, the Union of the Democratic Center, had pledged to end Argentina's long history of authoritarianism by instituting reforhis granting extensive individual liberty and an end to the crippling control of the government in business.

Later these tendencies took clearer shape and led him to "the exultant acceptance of authoritarianism as the only solution.