NationStates Jolt Archive

Are there any nations, now or in history, that would earn the NS category of "psychotic dictatorship"? Remember, a psychotic dictatorship has to outlaw just about everything, including civil, political, and economic freedoms, so I would hesitate to list Nazi Germany here.

I might include Stalinist Russia here...Maoist China and Pol Pot's Cambodia are definitely on that list. Possibly imperial Japan, but their means were limited more by trade embargos than government policy. I would classify them and Nazi Germany as Compulsory Consumerist States, even if their national motivations were racial and national pride rather than profit.

Also, anyone including the U.S. at any point in its history will be smacked 27 times with a rubber chicken. Maybe a Moralistic Democracy, but it is not a dictatorship. Also, don't include France or Germany...modern-day, anyway. If you can dig up a psychotic dictatorship in either of their histories (Robespierre?) then go for it.

All sorts of South American, African, and Carribean countries have had at least one nut whose turned them into a Psychotic dictatorship. Too many to list, they don't even make the news or history books really.

The United States. . . .

actually, the colony of Jamestown was a psychotic dictatorship for quite a while, then it calmed down.

Most of the British Monarch's states up until pre-revolution (American, not British) could be classified as cumpulsary-comsumerist, but not psychotic dictatorship.

Umm. . .Ghengis Kahn's Asian Empire, Hussein's Iraq, (what is going to be :) )Putin's Russia

Well, how about a Psychotic Dictator? Definately the Emperor Caligula...

The man declared war on water, made his horse a senator, married inside the family, offed people at random... HE CHARGED INTO THE WATER ON HORSEBACK TO FIGHT IT.

Well, how about a Psychotic Dictator? Definately the Emperor Caligula...

The man declared war on water, made his horse a senator, married inside the family, offed people at random... HE CHARGED INTO THE WATER ON HORSEBACK TO FIGHT IT.
Achilles fought a river in the Illiad. Was he trying to be Achilles?

The Khmer Rouge were definitely the worst. They took the most extreme policies of Mao and threw the reasonable stuff away.

Mao gets my honourable mention during his later years.

The Khmer Rouge were definitely the worst. They took the most extreme policies of Mao and threw the reasonable stuff away.

Mao gets my honourable mention during his later years.

That is exactly what I was thinking.

Umm. . .Ghengis Kahn's Asian Empire, Hussein's Iraq, (what is going to be :) )Putin's Russia

None of these people can really be described as psychotic in any medical sense. They all have (had) a reasonable grip on reality, even if their policies are not ones we agree with.

None of these people can really be described as psychotic in any medical sense. They all have (had) a reasonable grip on reality, even if their policies are not ones we agree with.

You can have a firm grip on reality and still outlaw damn near everything. Saddam's Iraq may not be psychotic, since their ecomomic downfall was more the result of sanctions than government policy. Also, the voters theoretically could have voted No for Saddam.

Just out of the hat, could Osama been one?

Anyway, the African Tin Pot Idi Amin win's my vote.

Just out of the hat, could Osama been one?

Anyway, the African Tin Pot Idi Amin win's my vote.

Osama couldn't be a psychotic dictator since he's not the leader of a nation, though the Taliban regime might have been a psychotic dictatorship. Not quite sure what they didn't outlaw.

Many monarchs of medieval Europe could be considered psychotic dictators. But then again, they might have had psychotic periods, but were mostly pretty sane. But my vote also falls on Pol Pot.

Idi Amin of Uganda, Pol Pot of Cambodia.

I wouldn't list Stalin or even Mao. They were extreme authoritarians, but they had coherent plans for where their countries were going.

In modern times--Pol Pot in Kampuchea and Idi Amin in Uganda. Potential future psychotic dictatorships=Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path, Sendero Luminoso) or Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) if they take power.

Well, how about a Psychotic Dictator? Definately the Emperor Caligula...

The man declared war on water, made his horse a senator, married inside the family, offed people at random... HE CHARGED INTO THE WATER ON HORSEBACK TO FIGHT IT.

is that the roman emperor who slept with is sister on stage, and after her death he cremated her... and slept with her ashes on stage? if im wrong, does anyone knwo who that was?

Present-day Psychotic Dictatorship

North Korea

OK, so why hasn't anyone pointed this out yet?

I would love to see Kim Jong Il on NS. He would act like a Class A n00b, and I'd love to see his reaction to getting called on it :D :D :D

I'd love to see his reaction

He'd nuke the server? :p

Have to go with the Catholic church on this one. More years of a reign or terror than any organizition on this earth that I can think of and more deaths also. The inquisition torture forcing people to accept their religon by torture and death. I figure many people that are Catholic now you had ancestors that we forced into the religon by threat of death.

One of the purest evil dictatorships ever. Their leader even claims to be the Vicar of Christ. A subsitute for Jesus on earth.

The NK's, the Khmer Rouge, Stalin was pretty nuts, Hitler was insane, and amongst Ohioans it's a rumor that Michigan is ruled by a tyrant...

Present-day Psychotic Dictatorship

North Korea

OK, so why hasn't anyone pointed this out yet?
Haha, that's just what I was about to say. :)

Present day

The USA
North Korea
Burma
Saudi Arabia (supported by USA)
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan (supported by USA)
Colombia (supported by USA)
New government in Haiti (supported by USA)
Equatorial Guinea

Historical

Taliban controlled Afghanistan (originally supported by USA)
Nazi Germany
Stalin's USSR
Mussolini's Italy
Franco's Spain
Salazar's Portugal
Apartheid South Africa (supported by USA)
Pinochet's Chile (supported by USA)
Fascist El Salvador (supported by USA)
Fascist Argentina (supported by USA)
Pol Pot's Cambodia (supported by USA and China)
Fascist Guatemala (supported by USA)
Mobutu's Zaire (supported by USA)
Batista's Cuba (supported by USA)

Europaland, what did I say about listing the U.S. as a psychotic dictatorship? Say what you will about its imperial tendencies, but within its own borders, it is in no way a psychotic dictatorship. Now come over here and get your 27 whacks with a rubber chicken. I need to break this thing in anyway.

ah no ones got this yet, Robespierre's France. Lots and lots Of killings

and leave off Europaland got some good points there.

Also the Catholic Church, they could finger paint with the blood on their hands

I mentioned Robespierre's France in my first post, but I don't know quite how psychotic he was. I know he tried to abolish the Gregorian calendar and make 1792 "year 1" or something, but I don't know how he was on, say, economic freedoms.

Hmm. Idi and Pol Pot definetely, with Kim a stong contender. Maoist China a possible. Burma or Miramar or whatever is a strong contender for banning everything but is not a dictatorship, more a cabal, which could also be said of Maoist China. France in the Reign of Terror, no - while it was psychtic time, civil & political liberties were not banned, they just came at the possible cost of death for using them. Stalin would probably qualify, I rather like the theory that he was one of the rare true sociopaths, but that would probably disqualify him as being clinically pychotic. Uzbekestan definetely, just take a look at the place. Haiti, well Papa Doc at the end, Baby Doc always and Aristide for most of his as well as few dozen others in their past - figure about of 1/2 of Haiti's history. Castro's Cuba is a likely one, hard to be sure though as all information about Cuba is suspect. One could argue that the US under Lincoln met the defintion, I wouldn't go so far but an argument can be made. England under Cromwell, not enough banning to meet the "almost all" criteria but not exactly a nice time.

The U.S. under Lincoln can't be a psychotic dictatorship because it never really qualified as a dictatorship. It still had regular elections, and Lincoln still had to stand for re-election. He may have suspended civil rights and some economic freedoms, but the vote still existed, so it was an Authoritarian Democracy at worst.

The election of '64 could hardly be considered "regular", see how the electoral votes for the states in rebellion were handled. There also is no requirement for suspension of elections in the requirements for Pyschotic Dictatorship. That said, I do not believe Lincoln's US meets the "almost all" requirment, but it is the one of the 2 closest points the US can legitimately be said to having met the criteria and an argument can made for it being a psychotic dictatorship ( how far are we willing to extend the defintion?) (the other close point is FDR's US, but that is too current to be reviewed dispationately).

America will become a dictatorship

The Confederate states were a little hard to count, since they kind of thought they were their own country...any results from those states would have been bogus anyway, and with the U.S. in sort of a tight spot, throwing out the results from the CSA was likely the best solution. I also hardly consider FDR's regime a psychotic dictatorship either. Anyone who stood for re-election three times in regular elections can't be a dictator as much as many people were afraid he was. Aside from that, private industry got lots of government help but was hardly regulated to nothing.