CBC Ideas Week: How to Defeat Authoritarianism

How do authoritarian leaders use threats, illusions and force to seize and maintain power? And what does it take for truth and justice to prevail? Guided by host Nahlah Ayed, Ideas explores the rise and fall of four pivotal authoritarians and their regimes from recent world history, and asks what we can learn from their eventual downfall.

Idi Amin’s Uganda

After seizing power in a 1971 coup, Ugandan military commander Idi Amin initially promised a return to democracy and national stability. His rule quickly became a brutal dictatorship. Known for his erratic and sadistic behaviour, Amin’s reign was defined by ethnic purges, forced expulsions, and total economic collapse. Nahlah and panellists discuss the legacy of Idi Amin and the collision of personality and totalitarian politics.