Wired Magazine: Tech Support

History Professor Answers Dictator Questions (2025x12)

Air date: Mar 18, 2025

Professor and authoritarianism scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat joins WIRED to answer the internet's burning questions about dictators and fascism. Why do people support dictators? How do dictators come to power? What's the difference between a dictatorship, an autocracy, and authoritarianism? What are the most common personality traits found in tyrants and dictators? Is Xi Jinping a dictator? How do dictators amass wealth? Professor Ben-Ghiat answers these questions and many more on Tech Support: Dictator Support.