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Authoritarian & Totalitarian Regimes

Explore the basics, characteristics, and differences between authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, including their main types of governance, mechanisms of maintaining power, and reasons for existence. Delve into the historical context and modern aspects of these regimes. Source: Stepan and Robertson, “An ‘Arab’ More than a ‘Muslim’ Electoral Gap,” J. of Democracy 14 (3), 2003.

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Authoritarian & Totalitarian Regimes

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  1. Authoritarian & Totalitarian Regimes Basics

  2. Characteristics of Authoritarian Rule • Concentration of power in the hands of a few • Intolerance of opposition • Press censorship • Outlawing opposition parties • Firm control over the legal system • Prosecution & persecution of political opponents • Few avenues for ordinary people to change the system

  3. Things to remember about authoritarian states • Don’t rely on fear alone • Variation in state goals and state-society relations among authoritarian regimes • People support them for a variety of reasons

  4. What is a totalitarian state, and how does it differ from an authoritarian regime?

  5. Totalitarian regime • Aims at total political, social, and economic control • Subjugation & attempted transformation of society • Extensive use of violence as policy instrument • Other characteristics • Single party merged with state • “Utopia” gone wrong: official vision of social and political reorganization • Extensive use of propaganda • Attempt to create a monolithic society • Mobilization of society • Atomization of the individual “For modern society, a colossus with feet of clay, we shall create an unprecedented centralization which will unite all powers in the hands of the government. We shall create a hierarchical constitution, which will mechanically govern all movements of individuals.” Point 25 of the program of the German Workers Party (predecessor to the Nazi Party, 1920)

  6. Main types of authoritarian governance • Autocracy (personal rule/dictatorship) • Rule by one main person • Oligarchy • Military rule • Single-party rule • Theocracy • Monarchies Plus, illiberal regimes/pseudo-democracies/illiberal democracies…

  7. How do modern authoritarian regimes differ from earlier ones? • Weaponry • Technologies of surveillance etc. • Ideology (transformative goals) • Nationalism • Fascism: • What are the key characteristics of fascism? • Communism

  8. How do authoritarian states maintain power?(Several main mechanisms)

  9. Why are some states authoritarian and others more democratic? Theories and arguments

  10. The problem with culturalist arguments… (one example) Source: Stepan and Robertson, “An ‘Arab’ More than a ‘Muslim’ Electoral Gap,” J. of Democracy 14 (3), 2003.

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