 | Authoritarianism: Encyclopedia II - Authoritarianism - Authoritarianism and ideology
Authoritarianism - Authoritarianism and ideology
Authoritarianism often arises from the governing bodies' presumption that they know what is right or wrong for the country and from intolerance of dissent. The government then enforces what it thinks is right, often with use of considerable force and sometimes in blatant violation of human rights. Dissenting voices are ignored, or, more strikingly, are considered to be plotting against the best interests of the country. Such was, for instance, the case during the Reign of Terror in France; in Spain under Francisco Franco.
However, there can exist authoritarianism without any defining ideology or ideal of common good. Such is the case in dictatorships where the dictator maintains power more for the privileges associated with power than in the belief that he is conducting the right policies.
Authoritarianism is distinguished from totalitarianism both in degree and scope, authoritarian administration or governance being less intrusive and, in the case of groups, not necessarily backed by the use of force. For example, the Roman Catholic Church can be accurately described as authoritarian, because in modern times it does not use force to enforce its edicts and thus is not a totalitarian establishment.
Typically, the leadership (government) of an authoritarian regime is ruled by an elite group that uses repressive means to stay in power. However, unlike totalitarian regimes, there is no desire or ideological justification for the state to control all aspects of a person's life, and the state will generally ignore the actions of an individual unless it is perceived to be a direct challenge to the state. Totalitarian governments tend to be revolutionary, intent on changing the basic structure of society, while authoritarian ones tend to be conservative.
The distinction between authoritarianism and totalitarianism was a crucial part of the Kirkpatrick Doctrine, which asserted that the United States could work with authoritarian nations with bad human rights records because they were more capable of fundamental reform and less dangerous than totalitarian nations.
Other related archives1998, Absolute monarchies, Anti-authoritarianism, Asia, Asian financial crisis, Asian values, Authoritarian Personality, Communist Party of China, Democracies, Dictatorships, Europe, France, Francisco Franco, Indonesia, Kirkpatrick Doctrine, Lee Kuan Yew, Malaysia, People's Republic of China, Philippines, Political theories, Prime Minister, Reign of Terror, Right Wing Authoritarianism, Roman Catholic Church, Singapore, Social philosophy, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States, World War II, ancien régime, autocracy, conservative, democratic, dictatorships, government, human rights, leadership, lettre de cachet, organization, police state, political philosophies, rule of law, sodomy laws, state, statism, totalitarian, totalitarianism
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Authoritarianism and ideology", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
