What is an Authoritarian State?
Look at:
Triumvirate: authority is in the hands of one group
Authoritarian State: a system of government that put order and obedience to the regime above the personal freedoms of its citizens
Defining Attributes:
Look at:
- Emergence of Authoritarian States
- How these leaders Consolidate and Maintain
- Policies
Triumvirate: authority is in the hands of one group
Authoritarian State: a system of government that put order and obedience to the regime above the personal freedoms of its citizens
Defining Attributes:
- One legal political party or limits the existence of other parties by not allowing them any significant role in political life
- A government that is not constitutionally responsible to the people and exercises political power arbitrarily
- A leader often chosen by or from the military following a coup
Characteristics of Authoritarian States:
- Censorship/ Propaganda
- Little or no freedom of speech
- Suppression of Opposition
- Volatile – Aggressive foreign policy
- Power is in one man hands
- Collective Society
- Created in response to a crisis
- No division of power
- No freedom of:
- Assembly
- Movement
- Travel abroad
- No independent judicial system
- A leader whose popularity is reinforced by a personality cult
Nature of Authoritarian States:
- Carl Friedrich and Zbigniew Brzezinski define an authoritarian state as a ‘crisis state’
- They have arisen during periods of conflict, division or confusion in a society
- Usually the outcomes of wards, economic collapse, religious or ethnic strife, or deep social divisions and class conflicts
- Stresses can lead to a sense of hopelessness or despair in the population, a fear for the future or concerns about society descending into chaos
- It is in this context that people may be attracted to extreme solutions or ideologies which promise to restore hope and order
- These extreme measures may involve surrendering political power to one party which seeks to implement its ideology across all aspects of society
- Other political parties are suppressed through legal means or physical force
- Institutions are eliminated or controlled in order for rulers to have complete dominance
- All aspects of life – social, economic, cultural – are brought under the control of the party and must conform to their value system
- Measure are enforced through harsh repressive techniques, propaganda to eliminate other viewpoints, other domestic policies which attract support for the regime and allow it to consolidate power
- Foreign policies like the successful waging of war can also enable authoritarian states to attract support and consolidate their power
Authoritarian vs Totalitarian States
- Authoritarian states can sometimes be classed as totalitarian
- Authoritarian government are states in which power is concentrated in the hands of the few, who rule without consent
- In authoritarian states institutions may still exist that are not under government control
- Totalitarian states differ in that the state tries to control ALL aspects of public and private behavior with their own ‘ideology’
- Therefore, some states may be authoritarian, but might not be totalitarian in behavior
- Yet totalitarian states are always authoritarian
- Dictatorship simple describes the source of power, usually meaning the form of government which power is held by one individual, the dictator
- Not all totalitarian or authoritarian states are dictatorships.
- Most are
- Friedrich and Brzezinski describes ‘totalitarian dictatorship’ as ‘a system of rule for realizing totalistic intentions under modern technical and political conditions
- Authoritarians states à single leader, class or faction in charge
- Many throughout history as most authoritarian states become ‘totalitarian’ in that the government seeks to regulate all aspects of life, both public and private
- Opposite to pluralism
- Friedrich and Brzezinski go on to argue that fascist and communist totalitarian dictatorships are basically alike
Ideologies of Authoritarian States
Communism: a form of revolutionary socialism by Karl Marx that proposed a scientific view of change, in which conflict between classes leads to new forms of government
Nationalism: an intense belief that the nation-state is the highest form of political organization and it is as members of a nation that individual derive their true identity and worth
Fascism: a radical form of ultra-nationalism that is anti-liberal, anti-communist, anti-conservative and is influenced by Racism and Social Darwinism
- Seek to control all aspects of life and maintain their power through some kind of unifying ideology
- Political ideologies can be left-wing or right-wing
- Right wing views are conservative and reactionary
- Left wing views desire radical or revolutionary change
- These terms originated during the French revolutionary period, when revolutionaries sat on the left side of the chamber in the Estates-General and the conservatives on the right
Communism: a form of revolutionary socialism by Karl Marx that proposed a scientific view of change, in which conflict between classes leads to new forms of government
Nationalism: an intense belief that the nation-state is the highest form of political organization and it is as members of a nation that individual derive their true identity and worth
Fascism: a radical form of ultra-nationalism that is anti-liberal, anti-communist, anti-conservative and is influenced by Racism and Social Darwinism
Emergence of Authoritarian States
- As ‘crisis states’, 20th century authoritarian states arose out of specific historical conditions, in which leaders used legal and illegal methods to take advantage of chaos and upheaval to eliminate opposition and take power
- Historical Conditions of Crisis states are:
- War, including the aftermath of war
- Economic Crisis
- Political Instability
- Lack of Leadership
- Unpopular or tyrannical governments
- Fear of revolution
- New ideas introduced in politics
- Nationalism, independence movements
Leaders and their Methods
- Physical characteristics
- Size, physical appearance, personal magnetism, show of strength and power
- Intelligence
- Spiritual depth, ability to articulate a programme of reform and advancement
- Personal skills and qualities
- Public speaking (oratory), ability as a writer, personal charm, magnetism (charisma), ability to project an aura of confidence, determination, sincerity
- Personal history
- Evidence of heroism, courage, records of personal sacrifice and struggle against injustices, real or imagined
- Ability to Recruit
- To gain support of powerful and talented individuals, maintain a large following
- Motivation
- Has the necessary motivation to succeed
Elimination of Opposition
- The main ways in which government in power maybe unable to withstand challenges are”
- Weak or unpopular policies
- Rigid or insensitive attitudes
- Lack of experience and failure to recognize problems
- Failure to embrace reform or a determination to retain traditional structures and policies
- Divided leadership – nor clear direction
- Underestimating strength of opposition