Meet the World's Military Dictators

Last week, Change.org's War and Peace blog reported on some of the military coups that have taken place in recent years, but that only tells half of the story. There are too many military dictators ruling countries today worldwide, some of whom have been in power for decades, some of whom were put in or aided into power by either the U.S. or the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and some of whom have taken advantage of the internal and international chaos since.

In this second part of our two-part series on military coups and dictators, we'd like to introduce you to some of the biggest bullies of the world and the vintage of their regimes, regardless of the sham elections by which they ostensibly maintain their grips:

• Muammar al-Qaddafi, leader of Libya (1969–): Ironically, Qaddafi holds no official title or public office except for the honorific "Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya" or "Brotherly Leader and Guide of the Revolution" by which he came to power.

• Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea (1979–): Deposed his predecessor with the army, maintains and ethnocentric regime with tight media and travel controls, and like others on this list feeds an unhealthy cult of personality for himself and his country.

• Blaise Compaoré, President of Burkina Faso (1987–): Implicated in the assassination of his predecessor in a coup, the elections by which he maintained power were boycotted by the opposition; magically, he was reelected three times.

• Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, President of Tunisia (1987–): Came to power after a "bloodless" military coup, he like many of his peers runs a de facto autocratic regime that masquerades in the guises of a democracy which fools no one.

• Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, leader of Sudan (1989–): A lifetime military man who fought against Israel with the Egyptian Army in 1973, al-Bashir led a military coup and has since banned all political parties and made the nation Islamic.

• Idriss Déby, President of Chad (1990–): As head of the Patriotic Salvation Movement, he was an expatriate guest of honor to quite a few of the dictators on this list before seizing power in his own country, then leading it (like his hosts) into corruption, making development more difficult than was already the case.

• Yahya Jammeh, President of The Gambia (1994–): Seized power in another "bloodless" coup as head of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council, except there turned out to be nothing particularly provisional about him or the party despite changes in names.

• François Bozizé, President of the Central African Republic (2003–): Having come to power in a popular rebellion, he is one of the few who actually seems to have played his transitional role so well that he has stayed in power thanks to a runoff election.

• Kim Jong-il, leader of Korea (Inherited, as of 1948): Since his father, the founder of the totalitarian regime, was bestowed the title "Eternal President" for founding the "Juche" (or national self-reliance doctrine), and the position was subsequently abolished, he must have some serious daddy issues, which may partly explain the desperate and devastating military-first policy he has instituted.

Despite Euro-American delusions, there can be no 'democratic world' while these men continue to maintain their power by non- or pseudo-democratic means, even if making corrupt deals with them for their natural resources and labor forces is easier. Imposing democracies upon these countries would be two wrongs making a right that isn't, so the conundrum of democratic competence will continue so long as military coups and their leaders continue (hopefully not much longer).

Photo credit: Raunet Patrice Hollywood