The concept of authoritarianism was first introduced in the mid-20th century by political scientists at the Frankfurt School. It was understood that authoritarian political regimes are a combination of features of the social structure and, in the first place, the peculiar relations of the people and the authorities. According to the proposed definition, this form of socio-state structure sharply contradicted the notions of genuine democracy. At the same time, the features of an authoritarian political regime can be observed on the example of many states of the planet of the last century. Not to mention the deeper historical experience of mankind.
Signs of an authoritarian political regime
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The focus of all power in the hands of one person or a small group: the military junta, the sole dictator, the theological leader and so on.
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The separation of powers into independent branches is, of course, absent.
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In such a state, any real opposition force is often suppressed. However, this does not exclude the possibility of the existence of a demonstrative puppet opposition as long as the situation is controlled by the authorities. Often, the so-called imitation of elections is initiated by the authorities themselves - that is, holding an event with all the formal attributes, creating the illusion of honest elections, which in practice have a pre-planned scenario.
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Public administration usually takes the form of command-administrative methods.
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Authoritarian political regimes often declare their own democracy, protecting the rights and freedoms of their citizens. However, real protection is not provided in practice. Moreover, the government itself violates these civil rights in the political sphere.
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Power structures serve not to protect the public interests and rights of citizens, but to protect the established order (often acting against their own citizens).
Totalitarian and authoritarian political regimes
It should be noted that authoritarian state power is determined by a number of signs. The absence or coincidence of one of them is not a sufficient basis for conclusions. Often authoritarian political regimes are identified with totalitarianism. And although they have a number of common features, this is not entirely true. Authoritarian power rests on the personality of the leader (or group of leaders), whose qualities make it possible to usurp and maintain it. However, in the event of the elimination (death) of this leader or the ruling group, the authoritarian regime often undergoes a transformation, since the heirs cannot retain power.
The very concept of totalitarianism implies totality: universal control of the state of absolutely all spheres of public life. By controlling the processes of socialization of its citizens, a totalitarian state can already inspire the exceptional correctness of its course. This means that there will be no need for severe suppression of citizens brought up in an uncontested ideology imposed by the higher elite. And the leader’s personality is not significant, only the elite’s control over public moods matters.
