Traditional Authoritarianism
 Power of leaders is limited sometimes
by:
o Religion, pre-existing laws,
nobles
 Conservative
 Used intellectualism to their advantage
(enlightened despots)
o Catherine the Great, Metternich
 Relied on obedient bureaucracy to
maintain order
 People had considerable individual
independence
 Could not / did not want to control the
lives of individual subjects
Overlap
 Rejected parliamentary, liberal values
 Only acceptable political activity was
through government approved party or
state organizations
 Censorship, political repression
Totalitarianism
 Rejected or completely subordinated
religion
 Radical dictatorship, one-party state
 Soviet Union, Germany (Italy no-somuch)
 No deviation from the norm
 Relied on force to maintain order
 Massive control of all aspects of society
 Propaganda, extreme political
repression
 Charismatic leader with cult of
personality
 Massive state-controlled social
engineering projects
 Individualism replaced by “the people”
and collective will as embodied by the
Leader
 Tried to control social, intellectual and
cultural aspects of subjects
German Fascism
 Anti-communist
 Anti-Semitic
 Racial / social ideology – against any
non-Aryan
 Improved standard of living for Aryans
 Highly militaristic
 Expansionistic
 Free market with private property but
with heavy government planning for war
economy
 Romantic, mystic ideology
 Minimize “class” to emphasize common
German-ness
 Highly nationalistic
 Anti-intellectual
Overlap
 Driven by ideology
 One party dictatorships with one
supreme leader
 Supported by many (most) of subjects
 Sexist – cut back on women’s rights
 Supported “traditional” family
 Increased industrial production,
achieved economic recovery
 Use of propaganda
 Use of secret police to create fear and
maintain control
 Govt. involvement in economy
 Minimal unemployment through state
created work
 Indoctrinated youth
Soviet Totalitarianism (Stalinism)
 Anti-fascist
 Economic ideology – Marxist class
theory
 Socialist economy with minimal free
market and private property
 Very little improvement in standard of
living
 Emphasize class (but all Soviets are
supposedly the same class)
 Theoretically international rather than
nationalistic
 Emphasis on education
 Collectivization of agriculture
 Mostly focused on internal concerns
rather than expansion
German Fascism
 Established true totalitarian control.
Abolished all personal liberties
 Came to power legally
 Gained support of the people rather
than the govt.
 Enabling Act legally gave Hitler
dictatorial power
 Racism as a major factor
 Very repressive with many political
prisoners
 Wanted to expand into east and central
Europe
 Heavy govt. economic planning
 Substantial economic recovery and
improved standard of living
 Concentration camps for enemies and
impure
 Crushed religion
 Widespread, deep support
 Effectively harnessed the resources of
Germany
Overlap
 Took power due to bad economic
conditions and weak governments
(“Misery Parties”)
 Nationalism
 Militarism
 Anti-communist
 Indoctrinated youth
 Propaganda
 Secret police
 One-party dictatorships
Italian Fascism
 Not truly totalitarian (not enough
control)
 Came to power through violent
revolution
 Compromised with traditional elites
 Did not regulate big business
 Religious aspect: allied with Catholic
Church
 Did not aggressively persecute Jews
 Never really controlled the economy or
harnessed all the national resources