Unlike previous racist dictatorships, the North Korean one has actually succeeded in producing a sort of new species. Starving and stunted dwarves, living in the dark, kept in perpetual ignorance and fear, brainwashed into the hatred of others, regimented and coerced and inculcated with a death cult: This horror show is in our future, and is so ghastly that our own darling leaders dare not face it and can only peep through their fingers at what is coming.
Category: Democracy and its Adversaries
How Is America Going To End? Five steps to totalitarian rule.
As Hitler and Mussolini prepared to storm Europe, fascism began to generate interest in the United States. In Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 novel, It Can’t Happen Here, an American president uses an economic crisis as a pretense to take over the media, imprison dissenters, and build his own private army (the Minute Men) into an indomitable force.
Fascist America, in 10 easy steps
From Hitler to Pinochet and beyond, history shows there are certain steps that any would-be dictator must take to destroy constitutional freedoms. And, argues Naomi Wolf, George Bush and his administration seem to be taking them all.
Lecture on Totalitarianism
Here is my Power Point, defining Totalitarianism.
My Lecture on the Mao Years
Here is Mao’s China
Why Parties and Elections in Authoritarian Regimes?
Although parties and elections are thought of as defining features of democracy, most authoritarian governments also rely on political parties and hold elections.Theories of democratic politics see elections as the means by which citizens hold politicians accountable for the quality of governance.Citizens may have insufficient information to monitor politicians closely and, in any event, must choose on infrequent occasions among packages of policy promises (parties) that may not reflect their own views or interests very well, but they can at a minimum oust incompetent, unsuccessful, or simply unpopular leaders in routine low-cost ways.Citizens in authoritarian regimes only rarely have this option.Authoritarian elections do not choose government leaders or the set of policies that the government will follow.Generally speaking, citizens cannot throw the bums out.Changes in leadership and policy choices are decided upon by elite actors such as military officers and high-level party officials, not citizens.Nevertheless, a substantial majority of authoritarian governments holds elections, devotes substantial resources to its support party, and spends heavily on pre-election political campaigns.
These observations raise several questions. If party formation is not motivated by the need to compete effectively in order to win elections, as standard democratic theories of parties claim, why are they created and maintainedIf elections do not choose leaders and, indirectly, policies, what function do they perform?
Since I cannot rightfully ask you to read all 30 pages of this analysis, your task is to read the first five pages, carefully skim the rest and analyze the tables at the end. Then you must type a one page essay, single-spaced essay which responds to Geddes’ research question (in bold above). Bring your essay to class.
Inverted Totalitarianism: A New Way of Understanding How the U.S. Is Controlled
Wolin writes, “Our thesis is this: it is possible for a form of totalitarianism, different from the classical one, to evolve from a putatively ‘strong democracy’ instead of a ‘failed’ one.” His understanding of democracy is classical but also populist, anti-elitist and only slightly represented in the Constitution of the United States. “Democracy,” he writes, “is about the conditions that make it possible for ordinary people to better their lives by becoming political beings and by making power responsive to their hopes and needs.” It depends on the existence of a demos — “a politically engaged and empowered citizenry, one that voted, deliberated, and occupied all branches of public office.” Wolin argues that to the extent the United States on occasion came close to genuine democracy, it was because its citizens struggled against and momentarily defeated the elitism that was written into the Constitution.
THE SECOND GENERATION OF COMMUNISTS: JOSEPH VISSARIONOVICH STALIN, SOCIAL ARCHITECT
Read THE SECOND GENERATION OF COMMUNISTS: JOSEPH VISSARIONOVICH STALIN, SOCIAL ARCHITECT (a chapter from this book)
Respond to these questions
Talk of the Devil: Encounters with Seven Dictators
Riccardo Orizio is the author of the book Talk of the Devil: Encounters with Seven Dictators. He interviewed deposed dictators who have not apologized for their crimes and weren’t rehabilitated. They were Uganda’s Idi Amin, Haiti’s “Baby Doc” Duvalier, Ethiopia’s Mengistu and others. The interview is conducted by Fresh Air guest host Dave Davies.
Listen to the interview (34:00)
History vs. Hollywood: Idi Amin's Dictatorship
Your assignment is to type an essay which:
1. Analyzes the objectives and methods of Idi Amin’s dictatorial rule in Uganda (1971 – 1979)
2. Analyzes the extent to which his rule is accurately depicted in Kevin Macdonald’s “The Last King of Scotland”.
Please bear in mind that you are not simply writing a film review. In order to write this essay, please use and cite the following sources:
Wikipedia: An Introduction to Amin
Amin’s Obituary from the New York Times
Idi Amin Quotes from the BBC
A Life in Pictures: Idi Amin from the BBC
The Internet Movie Database (for film details and reviews)
More on Amin: A Collection of Articles on Amin from Uganda Mission
Mao's Propaganda Machine
Primary Source Documents on Maoism
'Who Controls the Internet?'
Fresh Air from WHYY, April 27, 2006
Recent controversies such as Google’s business in China and the U.S. government’s role in policing eBay transactions have put a spotlight on the intersection between governments and the Internet. Legal scholars Jack Goldsmith and Tim Wu address the issue in their new book, Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World.
In China, Blogs Are Revolutionary Tool of Opinion
China has more than 30 million bloggers, by some estimates. A few are political. Some are unusual, such as Mumu, a Communist Party member who has clips of herself doing dances. But the typical Chinese blogger is more like Jasmine Gu (“It’s all about me, myself and my life.”).