1. POLI 214 Introduction to Comparative Politics
Session 7 AUTHORITARIANISM AND TOTALITARIANISM
Lecturer: Dr. Maame Adwoa A. Gyekye-Jandoh
Contact Information:

2. Session Overview
Overview
This session seeks to define the two concepts of authoritarian rule and totalitarian rule. Examples of each type of rule will be given to illustrate the governments that can be categorized into authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. Your understanding of the meaning of the concepts will prepare you for the remaining discussions.
Next to be discussed are the various sources of non-democratic rule. You will learn how socio-cultural and economic factors can lead to non-democratic governments in the world.
Finally, this session will examine some features of non-democratic rule, including coercion, co-optation, and personality-cult. This will help you to be able to distinguish between democratic and non-democratic rule. It will also deepen your understanding of non-democratic regimes.

3. Session Outline
The key topics to be covered in this session are as follows:
Topic One: Defining Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism
Topic Two: Sources of Non-Democratic Rule
Topic Three: Features of Non-Democratic Rule

4. Reading List
O’Neil, Patrick (2007). Essentials of Comparative Politics. New York, London: Norton.
Linz, Juan (2000). Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
Huntington, Samuel (1996). The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Olson, Mancur (1993). “Dictatorship, Democracy and Development”, American Political Science Review 87, no. 3. September:

5. DEFINING AUTHORITARIANISM AND TOTALITARIANISM
Topic One
DEFINING AUTHORITARIANISM AND TOTALITARIANISM

6. Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a political regime in which a small group of individuals exercise power over the state without being constitutionally responsible to the public. Political leaders in authoritarian regimes are dictators who decree policies to the people, and are not accountable to anyone.
Individual freedom, the right to choose political leaders and many other freedoms are restricted under authoritarian regimes. The degree of dictatorship and the level of power concentration in selected institutions sanctioned by the leader may vary from one authoritarian regime to another.

7. Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism refers to a highly centralised regime that posses some form of strong ideology that seeks to consolidate fundamental aspects of state society and the economy. In other words, it is any government in which state power is concentrated in the hands of a group of people who believed in the use of ideology as the only guide in running the affairs of the state.
The central underlining principle of totalitarianism is the use of absolute power to transform a country along a particular ideological goal. Totalitarian regimes often use violence and terror to force their people to fall in line with the objectives of the totalitarian ideology.

8. Totalitarianism Continued
Totalitarianism is sometimes used interchangeably with authoritarianism. However, there is a clear difference between the two. Whereas authoritarianism simply refers to dictatorship, totalitarianism refers to the ideological transformation of a society through the use of absolute power.
Totalitarianism is a much bigger ambition of state control and a much broader concentration of power than authoritarianism. The two most popular totalitarian regimes in the world were the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin from the 1930s to the 1950s and the ‘Third Reich’ (Nazi Germany) under Adolf Hitler.

9. Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism: Concluding Thoughts
Authoritarianism and totalitarianism are both nondemocratic regimes, but they are not the same. Whereas authoritarianism is mostly about dictatorship, totalitarianism is more about ideological dominance. The similarity between the two is that some totalitarian regimes adopt dictatorial means to promote their ideology.

10. Sample Questions
What are the main elements of authoritarian or non-democratic rule?
Distinguish between authoritarian and totalitarian rule.
Can you give examples of each type of rule in the world today?

11. Sources of non-democratic rule
Topic Two
Sources of non-democratic rule

12. Economic Sources of Non-Democratic Rule I
There is a strong correlation between economic development and democratic development. Many observers of various democracies have come to the conclusion that economic development creates a middle class which can fight non–democratic regimes.
It is therefore believed that two of the major sources of non-democratic rule are economic underdevelopment and poverty. It is believed that the wealthier the society, the greater desire of the people to enjoy political freedom.

13. Economic Sources of Non-Democratic Rule II
Authoritarian and totalitarian regimes flourish where there is no middle class, and where poverty and ignorance prevail.
In Africa today, it is believed that dictatorship has given way for democratic regimes because of the improvement in economic growth and emergence of a more educated middle class in most of the countries.
The middle-class includes people who earn enough income over and above the reasonably agreed poverty level in any given country.

14. Societal Sources of Non-Democratic Rule I
In addition to economic factors, there is also the element of cultural factors which may influence the form of rule in any given society. Cultural values have the capacity to either encourage or discourage democratic development.
Non–democratic rule may therefore be as a result of prevailing cultural factors in society. In some societies, the existing cultural norms and values are not consistent with democratic practices. It is therefore difficult for democratic regimes to thrive in such societies.

15. Societal Sources of Non-Democratic Rule II
The countries of the Middle East, for example, have certain cultural and religious values that are inconsistent with liberal democratic practices.
These countries include Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and a host of other countries. It is therefore said that the non–democratic regimes in that region are more as a result of societal factors than economic reasons.
It is also true that sources of non–democratic rule in Asia are not economic factors but cultural values.

16. In Summary
Economic and social factors are the two major sources of non-democratic rule.
In the first place, economic development can lead to democratic development; therefore, economic underdevelopment has emerged as a major source of non-democratic regimes in most developing countries.
Moreover, the cultural values of a society can either encourage or discourage democratic development.

17. Questions to Consider Questions to consider:
Discuss the two major sources of non-democratic rule.
Explain how economic underdevelopment leads to non-democratic rule.
Explain how cultural values lead to non-democratic rule.

18. Features of non-democratic rule
Topic Three
Features of non-democratic rule

19. Features of Non-Democratic Rule - Coercion
Coercion is a common feature with both authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. It is defined as a form of compelling behaviour by threatening or actually causing harm.
Non-democratic regimes use coercion to ensure compliance and obedience. They adopt coercion as a means of public control.
Some of the measures or tools of coercion include arbitrary arrest, detention without trial by the state, torture, and sometimes murder. These measures were adopted in the former Soviet Union, some countries in Latin America and Africa.

20. Coercion (Contd.)
In Latin America for example, the use of death squads to abduct and kill people perceived to be opponents of the regime was common. Between 1941 to 1953, Stalin used coercion to sustain his totalitarian rule in the Soviet Union.
The use of coercion ensures that there is fear and panic among the population, thus making it easy for the regime to control the public.

21. Features of Non-Democratic Rule: Co-optation
Co–optation is another feature of non-democratic regimes. It is defined as the process by which individuals outside the regime are brought into a beneficial relationship with it, by making them dependent on the regime for certain results.
The two major forms of co-optation under non-democratic regimes include corporatism and clientelism.
Corporatism is the process where the regime seeks to enhance its power and control by creating limited number of organisations to represent the interest of the public and making sure that there is no competition with these organisations.
It is an effective form of control because it limits the public’s influence, and concentrates the limited influence in the hands of people who represent the regime’s interest.

22. Co-optation (Contd.)
In Ghana, for example, under the PNDC, Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDRs) were formed by the government to represent its interest.
Clientelism is also a form of co-optation. Clientelism is a means of co–optation where the state co-opts members of the public by providing specific benefits or favours to persons or small groups in return for public support. Clientelism creates a patron–client relationship between the state and individual members of the public.

23. Co-optation (Contd.)
Co–optation is made possible because in non-democratic regimes the political leaders control every aspect of the economy. They can therefore engage in rent-seeking whereby they rent out part of the state resources and property to their clients, who as a result end up controlling public goods that would otherwise be distributed in a non-political manner.
In Ghana, for example, the seizure and control of public toilets by party activities is a form of rent seeking.

24. Features of Non-Democratic Rule: Personality Cult
Personality cult is also a feature of non-democratic regimes.
It refers to the promotion of the image of a leader not merely as a political figure but as someone who embodies the spirit of the nation, possesses wisdom and strength far beyond an average individual.
Such a person is portrayed as all-wise, all-seeing and all-knowing. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana was a personality cult.

25. In Summary
Coercion, co-optation, and personality cult are features of non-democratic rule.
Whereas some governments may resort to the use of force to coerce support from the people under authoritarian and totalitarian rule, other non-democratic regimes use corporatism and clientelism to enhance their power.
In some non-democratic regimes, a personality cult is built around the leader to project the regime.

26. Questions to Consider Questions to consider:
State and briefly explain any three features of non-democratic rule.
Define the concept of coercion.
Explain co-optation in non-democratic regimes.
Discuss the significance of the concept of personality cult in non-democratic regimes.

27. Conclusion of Session 7
In this session, you have become familiar with the differences and similarities between authoritarian and totalitarian rule, the sources of non-democratic rule, as well as the main features of non-democratic rule.
In the next session, you will be introduced to the issues of non-democratic rule and legitimacy, types of non-democratic rule, and finally the end of non-democratic regimes. Stay tuned.

28. References
O’Neil, Patrick (2007). Essentials of Comparative Politics. New York, London: Norton.
Linz, Juan (2000). Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.
Huntington, Samuel (1996). The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Olson, Mancur (1993). “Dictatorship, Democracy and Development”, American Political Science Review 87, no. 3. September: