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favoring complete obedience or subjection to as opposed to individual freedom:
authoritarian principles; authoritarian attitudes.
of or relating to a governmental or political system, principle, or practice in which individual freedom is held as completely subordinate to the power or of the state, centered either in one person or a small group that is not constitutionally accountable to the people.
exercising complete or almost complete control over the will of another or of others:
an authoritarian parent.
a person who favors or acts according to authoritarian principles.
Contemporary Examples

Even with these new measures that smack of authoritarianism, there is no comparison with the level of repression in Gaza.
PA Must Stop Censoring Internet Hussein Ibish April 30, 2012

The network is a flytrap for cranks, conspiracy theorists, anti-Semites, and defenders of authoritarianism.
Watch RT, Putin’s TV Network, Call the Cops on Me James Kirchick March 6, 2014

But no level of authoritarianism in Morsi’s deposed government could justify the level of violence today.
Time To Cut Off Egypt Ali Gharib August 13, 2013

Indeed, Russia had become a dangerous compound of medieval authoritarianism combined with a chiliastic Marxist-Leninist ideology.
George Kennan by John Lewis Gaddis: A Review Jacob Heilbrunn December 8, 2011

Erdogan has become the prime target of the demonstrators, for what they claim is his authoritarianism and Islamism.
Turkish Protesters Are Entrenched as Protests Continue Mike Giglio June 5, 2013

authoritarianism And Backward Priorities There does not need to be a HealthCare.gov, and there need be no state-run websites.
Obamacare’s Rollout Is a Disaster That Didn’t Have to Happen Gregory Ferenstein October 19, 2013

How cronyism, secrecy, and authoritarianism doomed Obamacare, and why it was all so unnecessary.
Obamacare’s Rollout Is a Disaster That Didn’t Have to Happen Gregory Ferenstein October 19, 2013

They do not welcome the Muslim Brothers’ authoritarianism, oppression and heavy handedness, and they will not put up with it.
Coup by Acclamation? Hussein Ibish July 3, 2013

Historical Examples

The tory and whig groups were known by their disagreement over the authoritarianism of the Crown.
Our Legal Heritage, 5th Ed. S. A. Reilly

He has to reverse the social current until it swings back to authoritarianism—with him riding the crest.
The Sensitive Man Poul William Anderson

adjective
favouring, denoting, or characterized by strict obedience to authority
favouring, denoting, or relating to government by a small elite with wide powers
despotic; dictatorial; domineering
noun
a person who favours or practises authoritarian policies
n.

1883; see authoritarian + -ism. Early use mostly in communist jargon.
adj.

1862, “favoring imposed order over freedom,” from authority + -an. Cf. authoritative, which originally had this meaning to itself. Noun in the sense of one advocating or practicing such governance is from 1859.