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Figure 13.1 The Political Continuum. Political institutions offer varying degrees of freedom for their members.
Unit 4 Social Institutions
Political Continuum
Pure Democracy
New England Town
Totalitarianism
Adolf Hitler (Nazi Germany)
Representative Democracy
United States
Totalitarianism
Authoritarianism
Fidel Castro (Cuba)
totalitarianism
a political system in which a ruler with absolute power attempts to control all aspects of a society
“Every nation has the government it deserves.
Josef de Maistre French diplomat
Totalitarianism lies at the opposite end of the political spectrum from democracy. In this type of political system, a ruler with absolute power attempts to control all aspects of a society. Characteristics of totalitarian states include
❖ a single political party, typically controlled by one person. ❖ a well-coordinated campaign of terror.
❖ total control of all means of communication.
❖ a monopoly over military resources.
❖ a planned economy directed by a state bureaucracy.
Examples of totalitarian states in- clude Iraq under Saddam Hussein, the former Soviet Union, and Nazi Germany.
Hitler’s National Socialist (Nazi) government, which came to power in Germany in the early 1930s, of- fers an example of the way a totali- tarian system works. Despite presenting a false image of democ- racy to the world, Hitler and the National Socialist Party held all the power. The Nazis seized or shut down nearly all news media. Hitler’s four-year economic plans included strategies for budgets, production, organization of factories, and forced labor. Hitler dominated the armed forces. His absolute control was strengthened by the Gestapo secret police and SS troops, who terrorized Hitler’s political enemies and private citizens. The SS brutally and system- atically put to death over six million European Jews and others—a mass killing now known as the Holocaust.
Why can we classify Adolf Hitler as a totalitarian leader?
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