Totalitarianism

The academic political science category, its models

Definition

Totalitarianism is a political science term describing a system of government that seeks total control over public and private life, extending state authority and a single official ideology into virtually every sphere of society, including areas most other governments leave to private or civil institutions.

Key characteristics

Political scientists studying totalitarianism generally identify several recurring characteristics: a single ruling party with no legal political opposition; an official, comprehensive ideology that the state actively promotes and requires public adherence to; extensive government control over mass communication and information; and the use of surveillance, coercion, or terror to suppress dissent and enforce conformity with the state's goals.

Distinguishing totalitarianism from ordinary authoritarianism

Political scientists generally distinguish totalitarianism from more ordinary authoritarian rule by its degree and scope. An authoritarian government concentrates political power and limits political freedoms but often still tolerates a degree of private, non-political life free from direct state control. A totalitarian system, by contrast, actively seeks to extend control into private and social life more broadly — family, education, culture, and personal belief — attempting a more total, comprehensive reach than authoritarian rule typically involves.

A term developed through academic study

"Totalitarianism" is a term that emerged from 20th-century academic political science and historical analysis, developed specifically to describe and analyze a small number of historical regimes that scholars concluded shared this particular combination of comprehensive characteristics, discussed further, along with the specific academic frameworks used to study them, in the advanced article.