SOCIAL STUDIES III

TOTALITARIANISM
Definition Example Features Differences between Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism

Definition
A form of government that theoretically permits no individual freedom and that seeks to subordinate all aspects of the individuals life to the authority of the government.

 Italian dictator Benito Mussolini coined the term totalitario in the early 1920s to describe the new fascist state of Italy, which he further described as: All within the state, none outside the state, none against the state. Britannica Online Encyclopaedia

A political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible. Robert Conquest Reflections on a Ravaged Century (2000) ISBN 0-393-04818-7, page 74

Examples
These regimes had totalitarian elements: Nazi Germany, 1933-1945 Stalinist Soviet Union, 1925 to 1953 China under Mao Zedong, 1949 to 1970 Cambodia (Kampuchea) under Khmer Rouge, early 1970s

 The USSR and Stalin Stalin vigorously followed a policy of strengthening Communist party power.

 To achieve his goals, he created a new kind of government, today called a totalitarian state. In a totalitarian state, the government is a single-party dictatorship that controls every aspect of the lives of its citizens. Individual rights count for nothing.

 Citizens must obey the government without question, and critics are silenced. Also, the totalitarian state supports extreme nationalism. Stalin used propaganda, censorship, and terror to force his will on the Soviet people

 Secret police spied on citizens, and anyone who refused to praise Stalin and the state faced severe punishment, even death.

Friedrich and Brzezinskis theoretical model of totalitarian governing boy, derived from the history of the twentieth century, had six key features: An official ideology to which general adherence was demanded, the ideology intended to achieve a perfect final stage of mankind. A single mass party, hierarchically organised, closely interwoven with the state bureaucracy and typically led by one man.

Features

 Monopolistic control of the armed forces. A similar monopoly of the means of effective mass communication. A system of terroristic police control. Central control and direction of the entire economy.

Forms of Totalitarianism: Military dictatorship Fascism (Nazism is a form of fascism) Totalitarian communism

 There are two basic differences:

Communism Fascism

Hopes for international change

Main support comes from city workers and agricultural workers

Pursues national goals

Allies among business leaders, wealthy landowners and lower middle class

Differences between Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism

Authoritarianism

Charisma
Role conception Ends of power Corruption

High
Leader as function Public Low

Low
Leader as individual Private High

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