Totalitarian and authoritarian political regimes, their signs and differences
The concept of authoritarianism was first introduced inthe treatment in the middle of the 20th century by the political scientists of the Frankfurt School. It was understood that authoritarian political regimes represent a combination of features of the social order and, first of all, peculiar relations between the people and the authorities. According to the proposed definition, this form of social and state structure was in sharp contrast to the notions of true democracy. At the same time, the features of an authoritarian political regime can be observed on the example of many countries of the planet of the last century. Not to mention the deeper historical experience of mankind.
The concentration of full power in the hands of one person or a small group: the military junta, the sole dictator, the theological leader and so on.
The separation of powers into branches independent of each other is, of course, absent.
In such a state, anya real opposition force. However, this does not exclude the possibility of the existence of a demonstrative puppet opposition, as long as the situation is under the control of the authorities. Often, on the part of the authorities themselves, the so-called imitation of elections is initiated - that is, holding an event with all formal attributes, creating the illusion of fair elections, which in practice have a pre-planned scenario.
Public administration usually takes the form of command-administrative methods.
Authoritarian political regimes oftendeclare their own democracy, protect the rights and freedoms of their citizens. However, in practice, real protection is not provided. Moreover, the government itself violates these civil rights in the political sphere.
The power structures serve to protect not the public interests and the rights of citizens, but to protect the established order (often acting against their own citizens).
Totalitarian and authoritarian political regimes
It should be noted that authoritarianismState power is determined by a number of characteristics. The absence or coincidence of one of them is not a sufficient basis for conclusions. Often authoritarian political regimes are identified with totalitarianism. And although they have a number of common features, this is not entirely true. Authoritarian power rests on the personality of a leader (or a group of leaders) whose qualities are allowed to usurp and retain it. However, in case of elimination (death) of this leader or ruling group, the authoritarian regime often undergoes a transformation, since heirs can not retain power.
