Strongman (politics)

A strongman is a type of authoritarian political leader. Political scientists Brian Lai and Dan Slater identify strongman rule as a form of authoritarian rule characterized by autocratic military dictatorships, as distinct from three other categories of authoritarian rule, specifically machine (oligarchic party dictatorships); bossism (autocratic party dictatorships), and juntas (oligarchic military dictatorships). 

Authoritarian leaders classified by political scientists as strongmen include Chiang Kai-shek (China), Ioannis Metaxas (Greece), Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt), Ayub Khan (Pakistan), Salah Jadid (Syria), Hafez al-Assad (Syria), Siad Barre (Somalia), and Idi Amin (Uganda), as well as Omar Torrijos (Panama) and Manuel Antonio Noriega (Panama).

See also

References

Category:Authoritarianism
Category:Political terminology