Is Putin a tyrant? Aristotle (384-322 bc) might well have thought so.
Seeing the turannos as a deviant type of king, Aristotle tested the distinction under four headings. Was he subject to the law? Did he rule for a set term, or for ever? Was he elected? And did he rule over willing subjects? We may judge Aristotle’s answer from the image he drew of the tyrant as a master of slaves who, knowing that his subjects hated him, did everything in his power to ensure they were incapable of moving against him.
First, therefore, the tyrant stamped on anyone exhibiting the slightest independence of mind, since ‘the man who rivals the tyrant’s pride and spirit of freedom robs the tyrant of his position of mastery, undermining his authority’.
Second, because tyrannies were ended ‘when people come to trust each other, command confidence among themselves and others, and do not inform against one another’, he must ‘make war on decent, upright citizens’ and ‘set them against each other’, creating a culture of fear, suspicion and mistrust.
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