What's the difference between autocrat and despot?

Autocrat


Definition:

  • (a.) An absolute sovereign; a monarch who holds and exercises the powers of government by claim of absolute right, not subject to restriction; as, Autocrat of all the Russias (a title of the Czar).
  • (a.) One who rules with undisputed sway in any company or relation; a despot.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Indeed, his reaction to the nationwide citizens' revolt reveals ominous parallels with another autocratic leader who has recently found himself in a tight spot: Vladimir Putin.
  • (2) A popular strain of foreign policy thought has long held that the US should be guided primarily by self-interest rather than human rights concerns: hence, since the US wants its Fifth Fleet to remain in Bahrain and believes ( with good reason ) that these dictators will serve US interests far better than if popular will in these countries prevails, it is right to prop up these autocrats.
  • (3) The elections, in May, were widely regarded to be the fairest held in Ethiopia , which has a long history of autocratic rule.
  • (4) Image: Courtesy of Pew Research Center The data also show why autocrats might have reason to fear open discussions in cyberspace.
  • (5) The policies of zero tolerance equip local and federal law-enforcement with increasingly autocratic powers of coercion and surveillance (the right to invade anybody's privacy, bend the rules of evidence, search barns, stop motorists, inspect bank records, tap phones) and spread the stain of moral pestilence to ever larger numbers of people assumed to be infected with reefer madness – anarchists and cheap Chinese labour at the turn of the 20th century, known homosexuals and suspected communists in the 1920s, hippies and anti-Vietnam war protesters in the 1960s, nowadays young black men sentenced to long-term imprisonment for possession of a few grams of short-term disembodiment.
  • (6) Britain's high commissioner described him as "becoming ever more autocratic and intolerant of criticism" – and was expelled in retaliation .
  • (7) It reinforces the fears held by many that a counter-revolution is well underway, setting the country back on the path of another long autocratic rule.
  • (8) Business leaders sometimes fall foul of the regime in autocratic countries such as China, and when they do, they risk having their assets appropriated by the state .
  • (9) A leading academic who taught on the London School of Economics' controversial Libya programme has blamed the British government for encouraging educational links with the autocratic state.
  • (10) Beyond the sumptuous lifestyle spreads in glossies or the gift-strewn shop windows at Harrods and Selfridges, and Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop website , shows like Downton Abbey keep us in thrall to the idea of moolah, mansions and autocratic power.
  • (11) But the Establishment also had a more interesting and benign meaning: a network of liberal-minded people who could counteract the excesses of autocratic and short-sighted governments.
  • (12) Trump approves of working with autocrats, at least, and would probably make fast friends with the galaxy’s less reputable leaders – especially those who share his interests, eg crimelord Jabba the Hutt, who lives in an ostentatious palace , loves parties , demeans women and feeds a literal Rancor .
  • (13) Using multivariate analysis, it was found that 'autocratic management style' was a strong predictor of job dissatisfaction, while 'qualitative and quantitative work overload' was the major source of lack of mental well-being.
  • (14) The political assassinations two years earlier had threatened the new democracy taking root after the autocratic president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was toppled in 2011.
  • (15) China has become increasingly diligent about quashing critical voices, apparently fearful that they could spark protests like those that unseated autocrats in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya last year.
  • (16) While the NDP was disbanded and its offices shut down in 2011, months after an uprising toppled the autocratic Mubarak, its members could still run in elections.
  • (17) Bingu, who has built strong ties with China, forgives but does not forget the leaked diplomatic cable from the then British high commissioner, Fergus Cochrane-Dyet, that branded him "autocratic", resulting in tit-for-tat expulsions.
  • (18) With billions of dollars worth of assets of Muammar Gaddafi frozen by the UN and member countries, and other legal moves to recover the wealth of deposed autocrats such as Tunisia's Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, the drive to seize billions plundered by corrupt leaders has never been higher.
  • (19) For the next quarter century, until the 1979 Islamic revolution, the US government supported the autocratic Shah – whose regime also enjoyed close relations with Israel.
  • (20) The autocrat in the Kremlin is rightly worried about Euromaidan – he knows that it can serve as a prelude to an "Eroploshchad" in Moscow: that is, the success of Euromaidan represents an opportunity for democratic forces within Russia.

Despot


Definition:

  • (n.) A master; a lord; especially, an absolute or irresponsible ruler or sovereign.
  • (n.) One who rules regardless of a constitution or laws; a tyrant.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Right now, with Kabila already 10 years in power and looking immovable, despotism seems to have democracy on the ropes.
  • (2) All the while, a long list of corrupt and venal despots turned their rule into virtual kleptocracies and stole their children's futures.
  • (3) One is the stubborn mystery of how a giant of its liberation movements, an intellectual who showed forgiveness and magnanimity years before Mandela emerged from jail, could turn into the living caricature of despotism.
  • (4) If it fails to do so, it will rightly stand accused of placing a higher value on its alliance with murderous despots than the security of its own people.
  • (5) To crush any residual affinity for the monarchy, British propaganda against Thibaw “went into high gear”, said Thant Mtint-U, painting the monarch as an ogre, despot and drunkard.
  • (6) It took Harry Guy Bartholomew, first editorial director and then chairman after Rothermere unloaded his shares, to run the business on despotic lines and, with a mixture of flair and vindictive thuggery, create one of the great popular newspapers.
  • (7) The Red Army attacked despotic gentry and evil landlords, people who exploited our country and exploited individuals," she says, recalling her reasons for joining.
  • (8) The tabloid conclusion is that the North's leaders are crazed – Kim Jong-un is a "deranged despot", the Sun wrote on Friday – while the Team America version is that they are idiotic.
  • (9) Its words are an attack on tyrants and despots, and a call for liberty.
  • (10) Even though the event was celebrating victory over fascism, some of the world’s most notorious despots were in attendance, including Uzbekistan’s Islam Karimov, Turkmenistan’s Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.
  • (11) "We couldn't believe our eyes," grinned Shamad, recalling the sight of Tunisia's ousted despot, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, fleeing a land he had ruled for 23 years.
  • (12) When it comes, the fall of a famous despot sends a shiver that is felt across the world.
  • (13) Jacobs checked Moses's mad worship of the car and his despotic excesses.
  • (14) In 1989, according to the Washington Post , he was hired to massage the image of the despot Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) for $1m a year.
  • (15) Responding to suggestions by pro-coup pundits that he should be more statesman-like, he was adamant: “I won’t change my personality, because I am a person with multiple personalities.” As with other interesting despots, none of this affects his ability to wield absolute power.
  • (16) What of the jobs that we’re told would be endangered if we adopted the exotic policy of not selling arms to despots?
  • (17) As Assange noted drily: "It's nicer, particularly given the frequency of equatorial despotism, to be tortured in the computer room."
  • (18) In an age of infinite European promise - summed up by the annus mirabilis of 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell and the countries of eastern Europe and former Yugoslavia freed themselves from Soviet-style despotism - Slobodan Milosevic, who has died aged 64, was the wild card.
  • (19) In championing the oppressed, deterring aggression, curbing the excesses of despots, challenging the victimisation of scapegoats, tackling poverty or preventing genocide, the international community still has a long way to go.
  • (20) Pogrund and cameraman Dewald Aukema pick up not only the whirlwind nature of that first head-of-state visit, but the exotic and breathtaking beauty of Africa and Mandela's buttoned lip as he visits the lavish basilicas built by despots on the land of the poor.