Oxford Languages defines a dictator as a ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained control by force, or it defines one as a person who behaves in an autocratic way. President Zelensky has recently been deemed a dictator by President Trump, a story that will likely dominate the news cycle until Trump’s next tweet. This has caused an uproar amongst activists and political pundits across the aisle; countless notable figures in the West view this as Trump abandoning the Ukrainian cause, which America has already invested so much into, and siding with Russia. In this article, I mean to find if there is any validity in Trump’s accusations by reviewing Zelensky’s questionable political actions ever since his election in April of 2019.
Worrying Signs
In 2021, Reporters Without Borders described the press in Ukraine as having “Noticeable Problems” before the invasion even started. Since the war’s start, Zelensky passed a bill in late 2022, which essentially gave Ukraine’s state media total dominance over information in the country, including stipulations that gave the regulator the power to fine news media outlets, revoke their licenses, block online outlets without a court order, and request that social media platforms and browsers remove content that violates the law. The European Federation of Journalists called a previous draft of the law “worthy of the worst authoritarian regimes,” quite fitting given the topic of this article. These are wartime provisions, but there is no guarantee that they will be removed once the war is over. This bill also creates the precedent of the Ukrainian government taking drastic measures to control the country’s discourse whenever it deems itself to be in a crisis. In a future conflict, or under a future president, Ukraine may very well find the state choosing for itself what is and isn’t true. Ukraine has been in a state of conflict since 2014, and were these provisions made then, then Ukraine would have had exclusively state media for the last 11 years.
If there ends up being an uneasy peace to the current conflict, Ukraine could very well keep its press censored, claiming to be in a constant crisis where war could flare up in an instant. It is difficult to name a free society without a free press, or free elections…
The Election Issue
During the Civil War, America infamously censored pro-Confederate newspapers and even arrested journalists sympathetic to the South. Many countries resort to censorship in times of crisis, and democracies are no exception. However, what is rare among democracies is the suspension of elections. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky should have been up for re-election along with his party, but as a wartime measure, he has stayed in power to avoid diverting resources and attention from the war effort. If he willingly relinquishes power once his term is over, his actions will have set a dangerous precedent: allowing the ruling party in Ukraine to maintain power undemocratically during a crisis.
It is not far-fetched to imagine a future leader creating or manipulating a crisis to avoid facing re-election. The Ukrainian people, through no fault of their own, have faced significant challenges regarding their democratic history. They have endured Russian autocracy, have only existed as a nation-state for the last thirty years, and experienced a questionable democracy until the 2000s. Thus, Ukraine’s record as a functional democracy is not strong. In contrast, the United States has a two-hundred-fifty-year legacy of Democratic governance, with a focus on peaceful transitions of power and never suspending elections. Although Ukraine is not a young nation, it is a young state with a fragile Democratic framework. With Zelensky’s autocratic tendencies, Ukraine risks suffering under the corrupt rule of strongmen and oligarchs in the post-war future.
Verdict
Is President Zelensky really a dictator? No, at least not yet. He leads a country fighting for its survival, and it is his responsibility to defend Ukraine at any cost. It is up to him and his government to steer Ukraine toward a peaceful and democratic future. If he succeeds, he will be remembered by the people of Ukraine much like Turkey remembers Atatürk: as a leader who valiantly defended his nation and ensured a democratic future, even if it required some undemocratic measures. However, if he were to continue down the path of authoritarianism, consolidating power around himself, he may be looked back on in the same light as Putin: a tyrant who seized control of a struggling Democracy. Were an American President to do what Zelensky has done, they would be a pariah, a tyrant, a dictator who would be overthrown. Once the war is over, Zelensky must be willing to give up power when the time comes and install guardrails so that no future leader can do what he has done.
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