AUTHORITARIANISM

DEFINITION• Form of government

characterized by absolute obedience to a formal authority

• Little individual freedom• Expectation of unquestioned obedience• Four qualities

– Constraints on political institutions & groups– Basis of legitimacy based on emotion (regime is a

necessary evil to combat societal problems)– Neither intensive nor extensive political mobilization +

restraints on mass public– Formally ill-defined, vague executive power

CHARACTERISTICS• Highly concentrated centralized power• Political repression• Exclusion of political challengers• Use of political parties & mass organizations

to mobilize people around goals of the regime• Embrace informal & unregulated exercise of political power• Deprivation of civil liberties• Single-Party State – single political party has right to form

government– Most have been ruled following ideology of Marxism-Leninism and

international solidarity or by parties following nationalist or fascist ideology– Not always authoritarian– Not all authoritarian states are single-party states

TYPES OF AUTHORITARIAN REGIMES

• Traditional Authoritarian Regimes– Ruling authority (single person) maintained in power

through a combination of appeals to traditional legitimacy, patron-client ties, and repression

– Example: Ethiopia under Haile Selassie I

• Bureaucratic-Military Authoritarian Regimes– Governed by a coalition of military officers who act

pragmatically (not ideologically) within limits of bureaucratic mentality

– Bureaucratic authoritarian regimes use state apparatus to rationalize & develop the economy

• South Korea under Park Chung-hee

SUBCATEGORIES• Personalistic – arbitrary rule & authority

exercised mainly through patronage networks & coercion – More prone to corruption than single-party and

military regimes– Shorter-lived regimes more corrupt than those

trying to maintain power for longer period– Seen in post-colonial Africa

• Populist – mobilizational regimes in which strong, charismatic, manipulative leader rules through a coalition involving key lower-class groups– Example: Argentina under Perón

DICTATORSHIPS• Political authority rests in one person or political

system– Despotism or Oligarchy– May coincide with totalitarianism

• Authority exercised through oppressive mechanisms• Politicians regulate nearly every aspect of public &

private behavior of average people• Employ political propaganda to suppress proponents

of alternative governing systems• Examples

– Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany– Benito Mussolini in Fascist Italy– Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire from 1965-1997

(embezzled $5B from his country)– Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines stole $5-10B– More than $400B stolen from treasury of Nigerian

leaders between 1960 and 1999

TOTALITARIANISM• Political system in which the state holds total authority over society• Seeks to control all aspects of public & private life

– Economy, education, art, science, private life, morals of citizens– Official ideology penetrates societal structure– Attempts to control thoughts & actions

• Differences from authoritarianism– Charisma: high in T, low in A– Ends of power: public in T, private in A– Corruption low in T, high in A– Official ideology in T, not in A

• Examples– Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union– Benito Mussolini in Fascist Italy– Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany– North Korea’s ruling family– Mao Zedong in China (albeit less successful than Stalin)

REVIEW MAIN IDEAS• Authoritarian regimes expect absolute obedience

to the ruler or ruling party.• Authoritarian regimes are often single-party states.• Authoritarian states employ propaganda to shape

the political culture, rule through fear, and feature political repression for citizens.

• Authoritarian regimes can take the shape of dictatorships.

• Totalitarianism is an extreme form of authoritarianism; not all authoritarian states are totalitarian.