People's democratic dictatorship

People's democratic dictatorship is a phrase incorporated into the Constitution of the People's Republic of China by Mao Zedong. The phrase is notable for being one of the few cases in which the term dictatorship is used in a non-pejorative manner.

The premise of the people's democratic dictatorship is that the Chinese party and state act on behalf of the people, but can and do use dictatorial methods in order to remain in power in the face of hostile forces. Implicit in the concept of the people's democratic dictatorship is the notion that dictatorial means are a necessary evil, and that without a dictatorship, the government may collapse and create a situation which is worse than the dictatorship.

Critics of the concept argue that dictatorships are inherently worse than non-dictatorships.