Q: Why are the leaders of (generally) third-world countries always referred to as “strongmen”?
—Larry Underkoffler, Kennesaw
A: By definition, a strongman is a leader who controls "by force of will and character or by military methods," states the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which also says the word's first known use was in 1859.
The strongman tradition is “most often, but certainly not exclusively, associated with Latin American politics,” Omar G. Encarnacion, a political science professor at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, told Q&A on the News in an email.
The tradition is linked to the Latin American “caudillos,” which Encarnacion wrote are leaders who usually have a military background and rule in an autocratic, highly personalistic fashion. Scholars have debated the roots of the caudillos in Latin America, he wrote. Two famous caudillos—Juan Manuel de Rosas of Argentina and Alvaro Obregon of Mexico—“ruled their countries with an iron hand in the chaotic years following independence from Spain in the late 19th century,” he wrote. In the 20th century, there were also Cuba’s Fidel Castro and the Dominican Republic’s Rafael Leonidas Trujillo.
While the strongman tradition may have Latin American ties, the term has been used to describe other leaders, including, according to media outlets in recent years, former Iraq leader Saddam Hussein, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, among others.
Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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