“The maintenance of power was dependent on the successful control of opposition.” Discuss with reference to two authoritarian leaders.

Candidates must offer a considered and balanced review of the hypothesis that the maintenance of power by authoritarian leaders was dependent on the successful control of opposition. Two authoritarian leaders must be chosen and while the focus of the response must be within the timeframe of this topic, the two leaders need not be contemporaries nor must they be chosen from different regions. Candidates may agree with the statement or they may argue that the authoritarian leaders were able to maintain their power because of success in other areas, for example the provision of employment, an appeal to nationalism and/or a popular foreign policy. Responses must focus on the period that the chosen leaders were in power. Each authoritarian leader may be considered separately or a thematic approach adopted to compare the control of opposition, its relative success and its impact upon the maintenance of power.