A UTHORITARIANISM

D EFINITION 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

C HARACTERISTICS 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

T YPES OF A UTHORITARIAN R EGIMES 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

S UBCATEGORIES 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

D ICTATORSHIPS 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 (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

T OTALITARIANISM 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)

R EVIEW M AIN I DEAS 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.