Читать книгу Political Science For Dummies - Marcus A. Stadelmann - Страница 91

An authoritarian government has less power over its citizens than a totalitarian government. Although it still controls many aspects of its citizens lives, it doesn’t exercise complete control. Authoritarian leaders usually don’t possess an official ideology that penetrates a society. More important, there’s no powerful political party that runs the state for the leadership and permeates all aspects of society.

Totalitarian leaders possess a high level of charisma that results in a very high level of public support. Thy tend to be good speakers and are able to solicit dedication from the masses. Authoritarian leaders are the opposite. Many of them aren’t charismatic, and the level of public support they enjoy is low, usually based on specific issues or fear of a secret police.

The level of control over a person’s public life may be the same as that found in a totalitarian society, but control of the private lives of citizens is missing.

Total control of the media and the military is also missing. In many instances, authoritarian leaders are replaced by their own militaries. In addition, with the advent of globalization, it has become tougher to control a country’s economy. The state-controlled economies of the Soviet era have disappeared, and today even authoritarian regimes like China see their economies easily impacted by other economies.

Finally, the level of legitimacy is very high in totalitarian regimes. People have been indoctrinated to support the leader and often are swayed by his charismatic style. Plus, a high level of nationalism is found in a totalitarian society. Often totalitarian countries have been wronged in the past and now are ready to right the wrong. In authoritarian regimes, neither is found. Further, the level of corruption is low in totalitarian regimes while it can be very high in authoritarian regimes.