Totalitarianism
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Totalitarianism is a political ethos which dictates the supremacy of the state over the individual freedoms of its citizens. A totalitarian state usually requires a defining ideology with which to justify its appropriation of the levers of power: extreme nationalism such as in the case of Nazism; Marxism in the case of the Soviet Union; and Islam in the case of a theocracy such as Iran or Saudi Arabia.
Arendt was one of the first to suggest that Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union were two sides of the same coin rather than opposing philosophies of Right and Left. [1]
See also
Bibliography
The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt ISBN 0-15-670153-7
External links
- Nazi Fascism and the Modern Totalitarian State - explains difference between left and right wings