What is totalitarianism ??????

1.one-party dictatorship
All political parties except one are banned and it controls every aspect of life. The govt. uses political propaganda and secret police to control ppl's thinking and suppress opposition

2.supremacy of the state
It requires ppl to devote absolute obedience and loyalty to state and leader. Everything serves the interest of state. State is a community and individual is only a part of it. Existence of individuals depends solely on existence of community.Individual freedom and human rights are not respected.

3.Emphasis on the use of violence
It regards violence and war as the only solutions to all problems and rivalries.

totalitarianism


A dictatorial form of centralized government that regulates every aspect of state and private behaviour. Although the term was originally intended to designate fascist and communist regimes, totalitarianism is mainly associated with characterizations of the Soviet Union. Its proponents do not agree on when, if ever, the Soviet Union ceased to be totalitarian, but they tend to converge on the view that at some point the political leadership was both all powerful and totally illegitimate. For many commentators, the Soviet Union entered a new phase after the abandonment of mass terror on Stalin's death. However, others operating within the totalitarian paradigm point to institutional continuity, KGB harassment of dissidents, and the ever present possibilities of the reassertion of arbitrary state power until 1989. The total and sudden collapse of the Soviet Union since then casts doubt not only on this school, but perhaps on the whole concept of totalitarianism. In the 1970s, a new school of Sovietology emerged which pointed to evidence both for popular support for the regime and for widespread dispersion of power, at least in implementation of policy, among sectoral and regional authorities. For some of the ‘pluralists’, this was evidence of the ability of the regime to adapt to include new demands. However, totalitarian theorists claimed that the failure of the system to survive showed not only its inability to adapt but the formality of supposed popular participation.

2008-03-28 16:49:32 補充：
Totalitarianism maintain themselves in political power by means of secret police, propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, personality cults, restriction of free discussion.

2008-03-28 16:50:56 補充：
Many consider the first totalitarian regimes to have begun in the 20th century, which include the communist regimes of the Soviet Union and Cuba, as well as totalitarianism of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Spain under Franco, Portugal under Salazar, as well as others.

2008-03-28 16:51:25 補充：
Totalitarianism was also used by the Spartan state in Ancient Greece. Its “educational system” was part of the totalitarian military society. The oligarchy running the state machine dictated every aspect of life, including the rearing of children.

2008-03-28 16:52:00 補充：
Common to all definitions is the attempt to mobilize entire populations in support of the official state ideology, and the intolerance of activities which are not directed towards the goals of the state, entailing repression or state control of business, labour unions, churches or political parties.