Non-democratic regimes are divided into authoritarian and totalitarian. They are states based on the power of a dictator or the ruling isolated top. In such countries, the general population cannot exert pressure on the authorities. Numerous wars, terror and other horrors of despotism are associated with undemocratic regimes.
Features of totalitarianism
Any undemocratic regime deprives people of the status of source of power. For the most part, in a country with such a management system, citizens cannot interfere in state affairs. In addition, people who do not belong to the elite are deprived of their freedoms and rights. Non-democratic regimes are divided into two types - totalitarian and authoritarian. There is no de facto democracy in either case. The entire administrative and power resource is concentrated in the hands of a certain group of people, and in some cases even one person.
The main basis on which the totalitarian undemocratic regime rests is the figure of the leader, which, as a rule, is put forward by a powerful group (party, military, etc.). Power in such a state is held to the last at the expense of any means. In relation to society, violence is also used. At the same time, totalitarian power is trying to look legitimate. For this, such regimes enlist massive social support through propaganda, ideological, political and economic influence.
Under totalitarianism, society loses its civic foundation and independence. His vital activity in many ways is nationalized. Totalitarian parties have always sought to penetrate into any social structures - from municipal authorities to art circles. Sometimes such experiments can even affect a person’s personal and intimate life. In fact, all people in such a system become small cogs of a huge mechanism. An undemocratic regime is cracking down on any citizens trying to interfere with its existence. Totalitarianism makes possible repression not only against ordinary people, but also against the dictator’s close associates. They are necessary to strengthen and maintain power, since periodically renewed terror allows you to keep others in fear.
Propaganda
A typical totalitarian society has several characteristics. It lives under a one-party system, police control, a monopoly on information in the media. A totalitarian state cannot exist without universal control over the country's economic life. The ideology of such power, as a rule, is utopian. The ruling elite uses slogans about a great future, the exclusivity of its people and the unique mission of a national leader.
Any undemocratic regime necessarily uses in its propaganda the image of the enemy against whom he is fighting. Opponents may be foreign imperialists, democrats, as well as their own Jews, kulak peasants, etc. Such authorities explain any failures and internal disorder in the life of society with the machinations of enemies and pests. Such rhetoric allows you to mobilize people to fight the invisible and real opponents, distracting them from their own problems.
For example, the political state regime of the USSR constantly addressed the topic of enemies abroad and in the ranks of Soviet citizens. At various times in the Soviet Union, they fought with the bourgeois, fists, cosmopolitans, pests in the workplace, spies and numerous foreign policy enemies. The totalitarian society in the USSR reached its "heyday" in the 1930s.
The paramount ideology
The more actively the authorities put pressure on their ideological opponents, the stronger the need for a one-party system becomes. Only it allows you to eradicate any discussion. Power takes on the form of a vertical, where people “from below” scrupulously implement the next general line of the party. In the form of just such a pyramid, there was a Nazi party in Germany. Hitler needed an effective tool that could implement the plans of the Fuhrer. The Nazis did not recognize any alternative to themselves. They ruthlessly cracked down on their opponents. In the cleaned political field of the new government, it has become easier to pursue its course.
The dictatorial regime is primarily an ideological project. Despots can explain their policies with scientific theory (like the communists who spoke of the class struggle) or the laws of nature (as the Nazis reasoned, explaining the crucial importance of the German nation). Totalitarian propaganda is often accompanied by political education, entertainment, and mass action. Such were the German torchlight processions. And today, similar features are inherent in parades in North Korea and carnivals in Cuba.
Cultural policy
The classic dictatorial regime is a regime that completely subjugates culture and exploits it for its own purposes. Monumental architecture and monuments to leaders are often found in totalitarian countries. Cinema and literature are called to chant imperial orders. In such works, in principle, there can be no criticism of the existing system. In books and films, only everything good is emphasized, and the message “life has become better, life has become more fun” is the main one in them.
Terror in such a coordinate system always acts in close conjunction with propaganda. Without ideological nourishment, he loses his massive impact on the inhabitants of the country. At the same time, propaganda itself is not capable of fully influencing citizens without regular waves of terror. A totalitarian political state regime often combines these two concepts. In this case, intimidation actions become a weapon of propaganda.
Violence and expansion
Totalitarianism cannot exist without power organs and their dominance over all aspects of society. With this tool, power organizes complete control over people. Everything is under close surveillance: from the army and educational institutions to art. A person who is not even interested in history knows about the Gestapo, the NKVD, the Stasi, and their methods of work. They were characterized by violence and total supervision of people. In their arsenal are significant signs of an undemocratic regime: secret arrests, torture, lengthy sentences. For example, in the USSR, black funnels and a knock on the door became a symbol of an entire pre-war era. “For prevention” terror can even be directed at a loyal population.
A totalitarian and authoritarian state often seeks territorial expansion in relation to its neighbors. For example, the far-right regimes of Italy and Germany had a whole theory about the “vital” space for the further growth and prosperity of the nation. For the left, this idea is disguised as a “world revolution”, assistance to the proletarians of other countries, etc.
Authoritarianism
The famous researcher Juan Linz identified the main features characteristic of authoritarian regimes. This is a limitation of pluralism, the lack of a clear guiding ideology and a low level of people's involvement in political life. In simple terms, authoritarianism can be called a soft form of totalitarianism. All these are types of undemocratic regimes, only with varying degrees of separation from the democratic principles of government.
Of all the features of authoritarianism, the key is precisely the absence of pluralism. The one-sidedness of accepted views can exist simply de facto, or it can be fixed de jure. Restrictions primarily affect large interest groups and political associations. On paper, they can be extremely blurry. For example, authoritarianism allows for the existence of parties "independent" from the government, which in fact are either puppet or too insignificant to influence the real situation. The existence of such surrogates is a way to create a hybrid mode. He may have a democratic showcase, but all of his internal mechanisms work according to the general line set from above and not allowing objections.
Often, authoritarianism is only a stepping stone to totalitarianism. The state of power depends on the state of state institutions. Totalitarianism cannot be built overnight. In order to form such a system, it takes some time (from several years to decades). If the authorities embarked on the path of the final “tightening of the nuts”, then at a certain stage it will still be authoritarian. However, with the legal consolidation of totalitarian orders, these compromise traits will increasingly lose.
Hybrid modes
Under an authoritarian system, power can leave the remnants of civil society or its individual elements. However, contrary to this, the main political regimes of this kind rely only on their own vertical and exist separately from the bulk of the population. They regulate themselves and reform themselves. If citizens are asked their opinions (for example, in the form of plebiscites), then this is done “for show” and only in order to legitimize the already established orders. An authoritarian state does not need a mobilized population (as opposed to a totalitarian system), because without a solid ideology and widespread terror, such people will sooner or later oppose the existing system.
What is the difference between a democratic and undemocratic regime? In both cases, there is an electoral system, but its position is completely different. For example, the US political regime is entirely dependent on the will of citizens, while in an authoritarian system, elections become a sham. An overly powerful government can use administrative resources in order to achieve the necessary results in referenda. And in presidential or parliamentary elections, she often resorts to scrubbing the political field, when people are given the opportunity to vote only for the “right” candidates. In this case, the attributes of the electoral process are retained externally.
Under authoritarianism, an independent ideology can be replaced by the supremacy of religion, tradition and culture. Using these phenomena, the regime makes itself legitimate. The emphasis on tradition, a dislike for change, conservatism - all this is characteristic of any state of this kind.
Military junta and dictatorship
Authoritarianism is a general concept. It can include a variety of control systems. Often in this series there is a military-bureaucratic state, which is based on a military dictatorship. Such power is characterized by a lack of ideology. The ruling coalition is an alliance of military and bureaucrats. The US political regime, like any other democratic state, is somehow connected with these influential groups. However, in a system regulated by democracy, neither the military nor the bureaucrats occupy a dominant privileged position.
The main objective of the authoritarian regime described above is to suppress active groups of the population, including cultural, ethnic and religious minorities. They can pose a potential danger to dictators, because they have better self-organization than other residents of the country. In a military authoritarian state, all posts are distributed according to the army hierarchy. It can be both the dictatorship of one person, and the military junta, consisting of the ruling elite (such was the junta in Greece in 1967-1974).
Corporate Authoritarianism
In the corporate system, undemocratic regimes are characterized by monopoly representation in the power of certain interest groups. Such a state arises in countries where economic development has achieved certain successes, and society is interested in participating in political life. Corporate authoritarianism is a cross between one-party rule and a mass party.
Limited representation makes it easy to manage. A regime based on a particular social stratum can usurp power, while at the same time giving handouts to one or more groups of the population. A similar state existed in Portugal in 1932-1968. under Salazar.
