Question

In a well-rounded paragraph, describe the nature of totalitarianism and the police state that existed in Russia, Germany, and Italy; explain how those governments differed from authoritarian governments. Use examples from one of the countries mentioned to support your ideas.

Answer 1

Totalitarianism is the term by which ideologies, movements and political regimes where freedom is severely restricted and the State exerts all power without divisions or restrictions are known.

Totalitarian regimes, are differentiated from other autocratic regimes because they are directed by a political party that pretends to be or behaves in practice as a single party and fuses with the institutions of the State. These regimes, in general, exalt the figure of a character who has an unlimited power that reaches all areas and manifests through the authority exercised hierarchically. They promote a mass movement in which it is intended to frame the whole society, and make intensive use of propaganda and different mechanisms of social control and repression such as secret police and paramilitary groups.

The key difference between an authoritarian regime and a totalitarian regime is that in totalitarianism, the state obeys a specific law or objective; in the case of Stalin's Russia "the law of history", in the case of Hitler's Germany "the law of nature", these ultimate goals are those established as the supreme law, law that legitimizes the actions of the state. However, in a tyranny there is no ultimate goal that guides the actions of the state, the right is not at the service of ideology.