Monarchs vs. Dictators

658 Words2 Pages

Monarchs and Dictators are very similar but yet very different. A monarch is defined as “a person who reigns over a kingdom or empire: as, a sovereign ruler or a constitutional king or queen” by Webster’s Dictionary. A monarch rules over lands while following a set of guidelines that are set by a constitution, law body, or the people themselves. Dictators on the other hand, are defined as “a person who rules a country with total authority and often in a cruel or brutal way”, they rule by themselves, they don’t follow any rules, they don’t take into account the people’s opinion, and they don’t care about anything other than gaining more power.
There are different types of monarchies, each with a different level of control used by the monarch. An absolute monarch has supreme power over his or her lands, and citizens. King Louis XIV of France once stated that “L'état, c'est moi” literally translating into, “The state, It is me”. An absolute monarchy and a dictator are very closely related, both leaders have absolute power, but the way they receive the power, and act on that power is very different. Another type of monarchy is a constitutional monarchy. A constitutional monarchy has a monarch who rules by a constitution, the monarch can’t do whatever he or she wants to, they must follow the constitution. Normally constitutional monarchies also have a parliament, which is used to govern laws.
A dictator rules with an iron fist, as Charlie Chaplin once said “Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people.” Dictators don’t care whether you want them to lead you or not “In a democracy you believe it or not, in a dictatorship you believe it or else” (Evan Esar). Currently there still are dictators, one of the most well know is ...

... middle of paper ...

...Jong UN, killed for his power, and even made sure that he was the only one that could take the power after his father, Kim Jong Il, died. The New York daily news reported that "All relatives of Jang have been put to death, including even children,” The current monarch of England got her power from her relatives, not from killing them. Absolute monarchies are the closes thing relating to a dictator, but they still are not the same. An absolute monarchy is only different through how the monarch receives his or her power, an absolute monarch usually receives his or her power form their relatives or had been elected by officials or the citizens of the country, while a dictator receives their power from military invasions or when elected official refuse to step down from their elected spot. Even though Monarchies and Dictators may seem the same, they are very different.

Open Document