An Introduction to
Authoritarian and SingleParty States
IB History: Authoritarian and Single-Party States
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About the Unit
Authoritarian/Single-Party State = A government controlled by a
single political party and/or regimes that defend their political or
economical control by keeping all of society passive.
Authoritarian/Single-Party States developed and operated throughout
the 20th Century (1900-2000) and we will study three examples.
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Hitler and Nazi Germany (Fascism)
Mao Zedong and China (Communism)
Stalin and the Soviet Union (Communism)
We will study these examples through four areas:
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Origins (how did they begin)
Ideology and Nature (what beliefs did they promote)
Establishment (how did they get power)
Policies and their impact (what they did and the effects)
Terminology/Definitio
ns
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Political Ideology - A set of beliefs on which political leadership is followed
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Communism - Political ideologies that are opposed to capitalism and favor collective
ownership of wealth
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Marxism - Belief in a revolution of social class struggle that would eventually develop
a classless society (no rich, no poor, only eqaul)
Leninism - Belief in the revolution described in Marxism through leadership of a
single political party (The Communist Party)
Stalinism - The description of Joseph Stalin’s rule over the Soviet Union as not
congruent with Marxism or Leninism because of the abuse of power by the
Communist Party and placing the national interests of the Soviet Union before a
world-wide class struggle
Fascism - A revolutionary form of ultra-nationalism used to redefine a nation through
which many social organizations that are independent from the state are destroyed or
marginalized
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Nazism - An ultra-nationalism political movement led by the Nazi Political Party in
Germany, to redefine the nation in response to the results of WWI and the Great
Depression
Joseph
Karl Marx: Vladimr Lenin: Stalin:
Leader of
Creator of Leader of
Soviet
Communist revolution in
Russia to
Union
ideology
form the
following
Soviet Union Vladimir
Lenin
Adolf Hitler:
Fascist
leader of
Germany
following
WWI
Authoritarian/Totalitarian
Dictatorships
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Totalitarian and Authoritarian dictatorships are not the same
forms of government, they differ in terms of how they come into
existence as well as how much power exercise
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Authoritarian - A dictatorship that comes to power when an
existing conservative government imposes increasing
undemocratic practices
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Example: Hitler and Nazi Germany, Stalin and the Soviet Union
(early)
Totalitarian - A dictatorship that comes to power from a mass
movement that creates a government that has total control over
the all aspects of nation: politics, culture, religion, etc.
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Example: Mao Zedong and China (not entirely totalitarian, but
more so than Authoritarian), Stalin and the Soviet Union (later)
Authoritarian
Hitler
(Germany
)
Combination
Totalitarian
Stalin
(Soviet Union)
Zedong
(China)
Summary
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Political Ideology - A set of beliefs on which political leadership is
followed
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Communism - Political ideologies that are opposed to capitalism
and favor collective ownership of wealth
Fascism - A revolutionary form of ultra-nationalism used to
redefine a nation through which many social organizations that are
independent from the state are destroyed or marginalized
Totalitarian and Authoritarian dictatorships are not the same forms of
government, they differ in terms of how they come into existence as
well as how much power exercise