What makes a dictatorship totalitarian

Totalitarianism entails a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority, and it strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible.

Totalitarian regimes stay in political power through all-encompassing propaganda campaigns disseminated through the state-controlled mass media , a single party that is often marked by political repression, personality cultism, control over the economy, regulation and restriction of speech, mass surveillance, and widespread use of terror.

In other words, dictatorship concerns the source of the governing power where the power comes from—the people or a single leader and totalitarianism concerns the scope of the governing power what is the government and how extensive is its power.

Learning Objectives Compare and contrast dictatorships with totalitarian governments. When they are said to be tyrannies, despotisms, or absolutisms, the basic general nature of such regimes is being denounced, for all these words have a strongly pejorative flavor. The leaders of the people, identified with the leaders of the ruling party, have the last word. Once they have decided and been acclaimed by a party gathering, their decision is final.

Whether it be a rule, a judgment, or a measure or any other act of government, they are the autokrator , the ruler accountable only to himself. Totalitarian dictatorship, in a sense, is the adaptation of autocracy to twentieth-century industrial society.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF. A totalitarian country is ruled by a single dictator or a group that has not been collectively elected. The ruling leaders of totalitarian countries do not merely enact laws. Instead, the people or person in charge controls all aspects of both public and private life. There is no limit to what a totalitarian government can control because there are no checks or balances placed on the country's leaders.

Essentially, totalitarians can do whatever suits their agenda and say anything that comes to mind. As a result, totalitarian countries are absolutely against the right of free speech, which includes a ban on any and all freedom of the press. Some ideologies, beliefs, and religions may even be forbidden in a totalitarian country. The government has full and total control, while the country's citizens have little to no freedom.

Totalitarian leaders often rule through fear because they take advantage of people's emotions to keep them from revolting and protesting. When you live in fear, you do not know how to speak out against injustices because you are scared.

It becomes a matter of staying silent in order to stay alive, and totalitarian rulers know this. They thrive off of this natural human instinct.