Diktat

Whatever the pressures that have invoked the Minister's diktat, the outcome is Gilbertian.

Today, regional diktat is now supplemented (though not wholly replaced) by other means of recruiting elites.

It should be noted that Saddam's power was held up by fear and diktat.

Trump—according not to the paranoid fears of his opponents, but his own professed desires—would have the government’s law enforcement institutions act as political weapons, aimed by his diktat.

He added that “the issues are still the same” and that Russian President Putin “still wishes to impose his diktat on Ukraine.”

But amid all the disruption and norm-breaking, it’s Mr. Trump’s apparently keen interest in shaping American culture that may be most intriguing. To critics, it’s nothing less than a sign of his authoritarian bent – reminiscent of the Stalin-esque playbook that made government diktats over artistic expression a feature of the old Soviet Union.

Traditional social codes can sometimes prove as strict as any government diktat. Late last year, Chinese e-commerce giant JD faced a boycott by customers infuriated by its casting of trailblazing woman comedian Yang Li in a promotional live stream.