Free US Law Dictionary

BETA

Tyranny

List of forms of government

• Anarchism
• Aristocracy
• Authoritarianism
• Autocracy
• Band society
• Chiefdom
• Colony
• Communist state
• Corporatocracy
• Democracy

Direct democracy Representative democracy

• Despotism
• Dictatorship

Military dictatorship

• Feudalism
• Kleptocracy
• Kritarchy
• Krytocracy
• Meritocracy
• Monarchy

Absolute monarchy Constitutional monarchy Empire

• Ochlocracy
• Oligarchy
• Plutocracy
• Puppet state
• Republic

Mixed government Constitutional republic Parliamentary republic Socialist republic Capitalist republic

• Single-party state
• Technocracy
• Theocracy
• Theodemocracy
• Timocracy
• Totalitarianism
• Tribe

Politics Portal This box: view • talk • edit

In modern usage a tyrant is a single ruler holding vast, if not absolute power through a state or in an organization. The term carries modern connotations of a harsh and cruel ruler who places their own interests or the interests of a small oligarchy over the best interests of the general population which they govern or control. However, in the classical sense, the word simply means one who has taken power by their own means as opposed to hereditary or constitutional power (and generally without the modern connotations). This mode of rule is referred to as tyranny. Many individual rulers or government officials are accused of tyranny, with the label almost always a matter of controversy.

The word derives from Latin tyrannus, and ultimately from the non-pejorative Greek τύραννος tyrannos, meaning "illegitimate ruler", although this was not pejorative and applicable to both good and bad leaders alike.[1][2]

is===1 Lawyers and Law Students! Can you improve this definition? Send us your improvements and we'll provide a link back to your website or blog.