Authoritarian and Totalitarian Regimes

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Authoritarian and Totalitarian Regimes
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Authoritarianism

• Authoritarianism is a belief in, or practice of
  government from above, in which authority is
  exercised regardless of popular consent.
  Authoritarianism thus differs from authority.
  Authority rests on legitimacy and in that sense
  it arises from below. Authoritarian regimes
  therefore emphasize the claims of authority over
  those of individual liberty.

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Totalitarianism

• Totalitarianism is an all-encompassing system of
  political rule that is typically established by
  pervasive ideological manipulation and open
  terror and brutality. Totalitarianism differs
  from both autocracy and authoritarianism in that
  it seeks total power through the politicisation
  of every aspect of social and personal
  existence.
• Totalitarianism thus implies the outright
  abolition of civil society the abolition of the
  private.

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Friedrich and Brzezinski, 1963The six-point
syndrome

• an official ideology
• a one-party state usually led by an all-powerful
  leader
• a system of terroristic policing
• a monopoly of the means of mass communication
• a monopoly of the means of armed combat
• state control of all aspects of economic life

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What is the difference between both?

• Authoritarianism is usually distinguished from
  totalitarianism. The practice of government from
  above associated with monarchical absolutism,
  traditional dictatorships, and most forms of
  military rule is concerned with the repression of
  opposition and political liberty rather than with
  the more radical goal of obliterating the
  distinction between the state and civil society.
  Authoritarian regimes may thus tolerate a
  significant range of economic religious and other
  freedom.

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Study by Paul Sondrol

• Totalitarian and Authoritarian Dictators A
  Comparison of Fidel Castro and Alfredo
  Stroessner Journal of Latin American Studies ,
  Vol. 23, No. 3 (Oct., 1991), pp.
  599--620Published by Cambridge University
  Press
• Article Stable URL http//www.jstor.org/stable/15
  7386
• Alfredo Stroessner was a Paraguayan military
  officer and dictator from 1954 to 1989.

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Sondrol argues that while both authoritarianism
and totalitarianism are forms of autocracy, they
differ in "key dichotomies"
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Charisma

• Unlike their bland and generally unpopular
  authoritarian brethren, totalitarian dictators
  develop a charismatic 'mystique' and a
  mass-based, pseudo-democratic interdependence
  with their followers via the conscious
  manipulation of a prophetic image.

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Role conception

• Concomitant role conceptions differentiate
  totalitarians from authoritarians. Authoritarians
  view themselves as individual beings, largely
  content to control and often maintain the status
  quo (current state of affairs). The tyrant is
  less a person than an indispensable 'function' to
  guide and reshape the universe.

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• Consequently, the utilisation of power for
  personal aggrandisement is more evident among
  authoritarians than totalitarians. Lacking the
  binding appeal of ideology, authoritarians
  support their rule by a mixture of instilling
  fear and granting rewards to loyal collaborators,
  engendering a kleptocracy (rule by thieves).
• Thus, compared to totalitarian systems,
  authoritarian systems may also leave a larger
  sphere for private life, lack a guiding ideology,
  tolerate some pluralism in social organization,
  lack the power to mobilize the whole population
  in pursuit of national goals, and exercise their
  power within relatively predictable limits.

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Authoritarian regimes today (Freedom House)

• WORST OF THE WORST
• 47 Countries are designated as not free.
• 9 of these have been given the surveys lowest
  possible rating of 7 for both political rights
  and civil liberties. These worst-rated countries
  represent a narrow range of systems and cultures.

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• North Korea is a one-party, Marxist-Leninist
  regime.
• Turkmenistan and Uzbekistanare Central Asian
  countries ruled by dictators with roots in the
  Soviet period.
• Libya is an Arab country under the sway of a
  secular dictatorship, while Sudan is ruled by a
  leadership that has elements of both radical
  Islamism and a traditional military junta.
• The remaining worst-rated states are Burma, a
  tightly controlled military dictatorship
• Equatorial Guinea, a highly corrupt regime with
  one of the worst human rights records in Africa
• Eritrea, an increasingly repressive police state
  and
• Somalia, a failed state.

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• Source

http//www.freedomhouse.org/images/File/fiw/FIW_20
11_Booklet.pdf