Totalitarianism

We explain what totalitarianism is, its characteristics and differences with authoritarianism. Also, historical and current examples.

What is totalitarianism?

Totalitarianism is a system of government whose fundamental principle is the absolute exercise of power by the State and the total control of the lives of citizens through the dominance of politics, economics and culture. It involves the restriction or cancellation of individual freedoms and the construction of a homogeneous model of society based on coercion and propaganda.

It is a specific form of authoritarian regime (that is, based on the abusive exercise of authority and the restriction of political freedoms), although It is usually differentiated from authoritarianism by its emphasis on total control of society. the mobilization of the masses and its objective of establishing a social model based on a specific ideology (such as fascism or communism).

Totalitarianisms usually take the form of a dictatorship, although they can formally be single-party democracies. In any case, all institutions are subject to the leader or ruling party, which administers the territory, the population, justice and public powers.

In a totalitarian regime, there is no possible opposition, since any dissidence is considered a form of sedition or conspiracy against the government and the people, since the State is considered indistinguishable from the ruling party. This leads to the persecution of the opposition (through censorship and violence) and is incompatible with the rule of law characteristic of democracy which promotes the separation of powers of the State, freedom of expression and multipartyism.

Totalitarianism is a phenomenon that emerged in the first decades of the 20th century represented mainly by fascism in Italy (1922-1945), Nazism in Germany (1933-1945) and Stalinism in the Soviet Union (1924-1953).

Some recent examples of totalitarianism are the People's Republic of China under the leadership of Mao Zedong (1949-1976), the Republic of Cuba during the alignment with the Soviet Union (1961-1991), Cambodia or Democratic Kampuchea during the rule of the Khmer Rouge (1975-1979) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) under the rule of the Kim dynasty (1948-present).

• See also: Fascism

Origin of totalitarianism

Totalitarianism emerged in Europe in the first half of the 20th century. His main historical experiences were Italian fascism (1922-1945), German Nazism (1933-1945) and Soviet Stalinism (1924-1953).

In fact, The person who coined the term was Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) the leader of Fascist Italy, who in the 1920s defined his regime as “totalitarian,” in the sense that one party (in his case, the National Fascist Party) totalitarianly governed a nation based on the following doctrine: “Everything within the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.”

When the Second World War (1939-1945) began, the term “totalitarianism” began to be used in the field of political struggle to describe oppressive single-party regimes (fascism, Nazism and Stalinism). It was then adopted into post-war academic studies in the works of philosophers and political scientists, such as Jacques Maritain (1882-1973), Max Horkheimer (1895-1973), Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), Carl Joachim Friedrich (1901-1984). ) and Zbigniew Brzezinski (1928-2017).

Some historians proposed the existence of antecedents of totalitarianism in Antiquity, such as the state systems grouped under the term “oriental despotism” (such as ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia or Ancient China) and the Spartan regime of Ancient Greece, among others. However, these interpretations were frequently criticized by specialized researchers, who argued that totalitarianism is a modern phenomenon.

Totalitarianism and authoritarianism

Totalitarianism and authoritarianism are similar political forms that usually take the form of a dictatorship or a regime with restrictions on political opposition. Furthermore, both grant unlimited or excessive power to a charismatic leader, political party, or military elite. However, they are not exactly the same.

Authoritarianism usually respects the diversity and customs of society, as long as it submits to the will of the leader or ruling group. In this sense, the Authoritarian regimes usually have conservative characteristics, since they accept the survival of certain institutions, groups or traditional customs as long as this does not lead to the organization of forms of public opposition to the regime.

Instead, Totalitarianism aims at total control of the lives of citizens the supreme command over politics, the economy and culture, and the restructuring of society according to the dictates of the official ideology (such as, for example, fascism, Nazism or communism). This form of social engineering is carried out by State agencies, monopolized by the ruling party.

Another difference between these two systems is that authoritarianism is usually not motivated by a complex official ideology that tends to guide government policies and mobilize large groups of followers in mass demonstrations. Instead, Totalitarianism is based on an ideology that defines an ideal social organization, considered the horizon to be achieved and that promotes the identification (voluntary or forced) of society with said ideology and with its leader through propaganda, mass mobilizations, the educational system and coercion.

Finally, Authoritarianism can support different economic projects, both statist and liberal while totalitarianism promotes control of the economy either directly (for example, through forced collectivization of agricultural production and industrial planning during Stalinism) or through various forms of state management of the economy (for example, through state interventionism in economic activity during fascism and Nazism).

• Authoritarianism

Characteristics of totalitarianism

Totalitarianism has the following characteristics:

• It is a political system of total control of society from the State which in turn is dominated by a political party, and in which individual freedoms are annulled or restricted in favor of the objectives of the official ideology. For this, it uses the security and police forces, especially the secret police.
• Their leadership is usually embodied in a charismatic figure identified as a caudillo or supreme leader, who is granted excessive or unlimited power. He is worshiped almost religiously, generally out of obligation, both during his life and after his death.
• Totalitarian regimes are usually governed by a single party since political opposition is prohibited or restricted (which includes persecution and violence against any expression of dissent). Therefore, the ruling party ends up merging with the State, as the boundaries between the two blur, and the party, government, armed forces and supreme leader function as a single entity.
• The totalitarian State is an all-powerful entity, as it administers all aspects of citizen life. It does not have internal controls that set limits, due to the control exercised by the government and the party over all areas of the State, the annulment or restriction of the separation of powers and the application of press censorship and the persecution of the political opposition. .
• Totalitarian regimes are supported by an ideology that promotes social engineering processes in which they seek to impose said ideology and a model of social organization (such as the fascist corporate state in Italy or “socialism in one country” in the Soviet Union) through propaganda, education and violence. Along these lines, an attempt is made to rapidly restructure society through coercive measures such as the elimination of individuals considered undesirable (for political, cultural, social, ethnic or class reasons) and the application of severe prohibitions, impositions and punishments, often called “ re-education”. Some of these processes have led to the perpetration of genocides (such as those implemented by Nazi Germany and the Khmer Rouge Democratic Kampuchea).
• Total control of society is usually achieved with policies such as censorship, social control and propaganda. Economic measures are also applied, such as the expropriation of private property or state interventionism, with the aim of the State administering the various areas with a single criterion based on the objectives declared in the official ideology.
• Human rights and civil liberties are often not respected in totalitarian regimes. It is considered that the life, liberty and property of individuals are less important than the objectives of the State, since these are presented as the expression of the values ​​or desires of the group represented by the ruling party (said group can be the nation, the people, the proletariat or another). In this sense, totalitarianism differs from liberalism and democratic regimes, which emphasize individual freedoms, although many of the repressive practices of totalitarian regimes are carried out in the name of justice or sovereignty.

Examples of totalitarianism

Some examples of totalitarian regimes are the following:

• The fascist regime led by Benito Mussolini in Italy from 1922 until his dismissal in 1943, and in the Italian Social Republic established in northern Italy until the defeat of the Axis in World War II.
• Adolf Hitler's Nazi regime in the German Third Reich from 1933 until its defeat in World War II in 1945.
• The Stalinist regime led by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953.
• Mao Zedong's communist regime in the People's Republic of China from 1949 until his death in 1976.
• The communist regime of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia (renamed Democratic Kampuchea) between 1975 and 1979.
• The Castro regime in the Republic of Cuba from the alignment with Soviet communism in 1961 to the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 (or, according to some researchers, to the resignation of Fidel Castro in 2008).
• The communist regime of the Kim dynasty in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) established in 1948 and directed since 2011 by Kim Jong-un (1984-), supreme leader and grandson of Kim Il-sung (1912-1994), the founder of the regime posthumously named “eternal president of the republic.”

References

• Arendt, H. (2006). The origins of totalitarianism (originally published in 1951). Alliance.
• Bobbio, N., Matteucci, N. and Pasquino, G. (Dirs.). (2015). Politics Dictionary. 21st century.
• Linz, J.J. (2017). The authoritarian regime. In H. Sánchez de la Barquera y Arroyo (Ed.), Anthologies for the study and teaching of political science (Vol. II, pp. 83-89). National Autonomous University of Mexico, Legal Research Institute.
• Litwack, E.B. (nd). Totalitarianism. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://iep.utm.edu/totalita/
• The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (2024). Totalitarianism. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/