dictatorship, absolutism, authoritarianism, Caesarism, despotism, monocracy, one-man rule, shogunate, Stalinism, totalitarianism, tyranny

a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)

• police state — a country that maintains repressive control over the people by means of police (especially secret police)

• autocracy, autarchy — a political system governed by a single individual