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They have their critics prosecuted, opposition politicians imprisoned or even killed: dictators and autocrats rule in many countries around the world. Less than half of the world’s population lives in a democracy, according to the British analysis institute Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for the year 2021.

But most authoritarian rulers are nowhere near as well known as North Korea’s Kim Jong-un or Russia’s Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin. An overview.

Hun Sen from Cambodia: “I’ll kill them”

Samdech Hun Sen rules Cambodia and, at 38 years in office, is considered one of the longest-serving rulers in the world. Hun Sen has been suppressing freedom of expression in the Southeast Asian country since 1985 and is clinging to power with might and main. “I’m not just weakening the opposition, I’m killing them,” Hun Sen once said. “And if anyone thinks they’re strong enough to hold demonstrations, I’ll beat the dogs and put them in cages.”

The case of Kem Sokha shows that Hun Sen takes these threats seriously: the opposition leader was sentenced to 27 years of house arrest at the beginning of this year and will never be allowed to run for political office again. Human rights activists accuse Hun Sen of eliminating his rival for political reasons.

If it is up to the dictator, only one person can succeed him: his son Hun Manet, the commander-in-chief of the army. Hun Sen has been preparing him for years to become his successor. “As his father,” the dictator said in June 2020, “I must support my son and train him to be capable.” In Cambodia, Hun Manet is expected to take office after elections scheduled for July.

“Fear reigns in Equatorial Guinea”

Teodoro Obiang is the oldest ruler in the world. With more than 44 years in office, the 81-year-old has ruled Equatorial Guinea for more than half of his life. After removing his equally brutally ruling uncle Francisco Macías Nguema from office in a military coup in 1979 and having him executed, Obiang always received more than 90 percent of the vote in supposedly free elections. Even before that, his re-election in the African country was considered certain.

Although Obiang is considered somewhat more lenient than his uncle, he maintains his rule with all ferocity. There is almost no freedom of the press, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. Opposition members, journalists and human rights activists are persecuted by Obiang. “Fear reigns in Equatorial Guinea, so they will vote for him. And wait for his death,” says Ana Lúcia Sá, a political scientist for African studies at the University of Lisbon, of the DW.

Obiang also has the resource-rich country firmly under control economically: together with his son and future successor Teodorín Obiang, he divides the income from the country’s lucrative oil, gas and timber trade between himself and his closest confidants. While the majority of the country’s nearly 1.5 million people don’t even have $2 a day to survive, with their luxury cars, private jets and Parisian real estate, they are considered the richest people in Africa.

The fact that Obiang has been able to stay in power for so long is also because he can apparently count on support from other countries. “Obiang stayed in office for a long time because he was supported by China and Russia, but also by European countries and the US,” says political scientist Sá.

“Color Control” and Dog Worship in Turkmenistan

After dictator Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov announced in the spring of 2022 that he wanted to step down from the presidency, his son Serdar Berdimuhamedov became the head of the repressive power apparatus in Turkmenistan. Instead, his father aspired to political office as head of the upper house of parliament. But that did not change the human rights violations in Turkmenistan. Opposition members are persecuted, the media is censored and critics of the dictator are arrested and tortured.

The following example from 2020 shows how fearful the citizens of Turkmenistan are of the wrath of Berdimuhamedov’s father-son team: people have repainted their cars after a rumor spread that their ruler would only tolerate white cars.

“Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow likes bright colors,” said Farid Tuchbatullin, head of Deutsche Welle’s Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights (TIHR). Although Berdimuhamedov never passed a law banning dark cars, there are “color checks” by the police. At the time of Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, the traditional Turkmen carpets were no longer made in dark red, but in light colours.

As much as he likes bright colors, he also likes dogs – especially the Central Asian Ovcharka, also called Alabai. In the Turkmen capital of Ashgaba there are only a few golden statues – that of the Berdimuhamedovs and that of an Alabais. There is also a holiday and an ode dedicated to the dog breed, written by Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov himself. Russian President Vladimir Putin should therefore have known about the honor he received during his visit in October 2017, when his Turkmen counterpart presented him with a young sheepdog as a gift.

On the other hand, little is known about the political decision-making processes in Turkmenistan. Since independence in 1991, there have been no truly free elections in the country. Both Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and his predecessor Saparmurat Niyazov, who died in 2006, created a cult of personality. Meanwhile, the opposition has been nipped in the bud for years.

«Leader of the Nation» from Tajikistan

He is considered the “leader of the nation”: wherever you look in Tajikistan, Emomalij Rahmon’s face can be found almost everywhere. Rahmon was elected ruler of Tajikistan after the end of the Tajik civil war in 1994. Observers described the election as unfair. To this day, Rahmon’s re-election is always considered certain, because there is no longer any powerful opposition in the authoritarian country, only the Social Democrats have been admitted as opposition party – even though they have little chance in the repressive state apparatus. Tajikistan therefore ranks 157th out of 167 in the Democracy Index.

Like other dictators, Rahmon is also preparing his successor: his son Rustam Emomalij is considered to be the successor to the presidency. Already in 2017, his father appointed him mayor of the Tajik capital Dushanbe, and in 2020 he also became a senator. Rahmon also held several referendums during his tenure, securing a longer term in office and also lowering the minimum age for the presidency from 35 to 30 – paving the way for his son, then only 33 years old, to succeed him. It is unclear when that will happen. So far, the 70-year-old has continued to rule tirelessly.

Tweeting about power in Uganda

Yoweri Museveni, the East African country of Uganda, has been responding since 1986 – 37 years. He was last confirmed in office in 2021 – after making death threats to opposition members and shutting down the internet during the election. Human rights activists have for years accused the dictator of repressing and torturing the opposition, the media and, not least, minorities. He was recently criticized for his anti-LGBTQ law, which he signed in May 2023. Accordingly, homosexuals should expect severe penalties for sexual acts – up to the death penalty.

Museveni is the only Ugandan president not overthrown in a coup. His entourage has therefore repeatedly pressured him in the past to look for a successor to his office and thus maintain stability in Uganda. Museveni also chose his son, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, but their relationship is strained.

If it had been up to Kainerugaba, he would have been in his father’s shoes a long time ago – a self-confidence that he also expresses on Twitter. He regularly floods the social network with confusing tweets: for example, he boasted that he could conquer the capital of neighboring Kenya in two weeks, offered a dowry of 100 cows to marry Italy’s new prime minister, and claimed that the world majority “non-white” supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine – even though his father had taken a neutral position in the Russian offensive war against Ukraine.

Kainerugaba challenges his father Museveni, who is regularly embarrassed to apologize to his ruling party for his son’s Twitter antics. It is uncertain whether he will ever actually hand over his office to him.