Level: Freshman-Senior
Prerequisite: None
Length: Semester
Frequency Offered: Every other year
This course will start with the definition of dictator and the roots of the word. Students will look
at dictators through history and move to more recent leaders with the goal of answering the
question, “What makes a dictator?” Possible subjects of study will include: Hitler, Mussolini,
Stalin, Castro, and Kim Jung Un, among others. Students should leave the course with a
better understanding of how dictators are able to gain power, the circumstances that keep them
in office, and greater knowledge of the role of politics and economics in the making of these
leaders. The element of current events will also be included in this course.