Tom Stoppard

I was interested by the idea that artists working in a totalitarian dictatorship or tsarist autocracy are secretly and slightly shamefully envied by artists who work in freedom. They have the gratification of intense interest: the authorities want to put them in jail, while there are younger readers for whom what they write is pure oxygen.

English Dramatist

Joe Sestak

Our 21st-century world is an incredibly dangerous one. Between brutal civil wars, violent extremism, spreading autocracy, rising inequality, territorial expansionism, election interference, and nuclear proliferation, our policymakers have their hands full.

American Politician

Simon Sebag Montefiore

It was always presumptuous to expect Russia, an ancient nation-state and proud empire of distinct culture with a tradition of autocracy, to become an Anglo-American democracy overnight - just as it is naive to expect it in other parts of the world.

British Historian

Kerry Kennedy

We need autocracies and failing democracies alike to understand that they cannot scapegoat LGBT citizens to distract from their own shortcomings.

American Activist

James Surowiecki

The autocracies of the Arab world have been as economically destructive as they've been politically repressive.

American Journalist

Mamata Banerjee

Sometimes, when democracy has to fight with autocracy, what can be done? We have to fight; somebody has to.

Indian Politician

Ameen Rihani

Autocracy is a government of the few from above; Bolshevism is a government of the few from below.

Lebanese Writer

Malcolm Nance

The Republicans want an autocracy where the rights of minorities and others are not protected.

American Author

Otto Hermann Kahn

The deadliest foe of democracy is not autocracy but liberty frenzied.

German Businessman

John Polanyi

In nation after nation, democracy has taken the place of autocracy.

Hungarian Scientist

Autocracy emphasizes one leader's total control, often neglecting public opinion.

Power Concentration

'Autocracy' usually suggests a lack of freedom and is viewed negatively.

Negative Connotation

Autocracies are sometimes confused with monarchies, but not all kings are autocrats.

Not a Monarchy

Autocracy can also mean a single political party controls all government decisions.

Single-Party Rule

In an autocracy, one person or party decisions have no checks or balances.

Lack of Checks

An autocracy often leads to decisions based on the ruler's personal views, not public needs.

Personal Rule

 In other words, not an autocracy in which I would lead and others would follow and not a democracy in which everybody's points of view were equally valued, but I wanted to have an idea meritocracy in which the best ideas would win out. And in order to do that, I realized that we would need radical truthfulness and radical transparency.

How to build a company...

 And I'm showing you something else with these maps. I'm showing you democracy versus autocracy. Fragile democracies is the beige color. Strong democracies are the orange color. And what you'll see here is that most Africans are now living in democracies.

Charles Robertson:...

 and a government still remembered as a model of civic virtue. His legacy was an empire that would go on to wage endless conquest until it collapsed, and a tradition of military autocracy. Any time a dictator in a general’s uniform commits atrocities

History vs. Augustus -...

 Maybe we can be more optimistic because of the spread of democracy. So, I looked. Democracy does have significant effects -- and unfortunately, they're adverse. Democracies make even more of a mess of these resource booms than autocracies.

Paul Collier: 4 ways to...

 the country becomes uncomfortable so when I think about where are we now the question I'm worrying about is are we entering a world where it's harder to be an autocracy but it's also harder to be a democracy we'll see thank you

How can social media...

 We live in a very cruel world. Dictators are cruel monsters, and I am not saying it to be nice. So yes, that is the final characteristic. The list goes on, but that's the final thing that I want to share about autocracies,

Is your country at risk...

 effects and unfortunately their adverse democracies make even more of a mess of these resorts films than autocracies at that stage I just wanted to abandon the research but it turns out that democracy is a little

The "bottom billion" -...

 They were jailed, they were fined, but they prevailed. And this caricature of the king by Daumier came to define the monarch. It marked history. It became the timeless symbol of satire triumphing over autocracy.

A free world needs...

 have very high expectations of the government. They're just victims of a long-time autocracy, expecting a paternal state to solve all their problems. But this conclusion would ignore

Dalia Mogahed: The...

 becoming more prosperous, more fair, more free. In 2004 and 2013, we marched for democracy, and we defeated autocracy. So I was stunned when the windows crushed in. I froze.