In order to define totalitarianism one may also attempt to isolate its objective attributes- an official
ideology, a single mass party, a technologically conditioned near-complete monopoly of all means of
effective armed combat and of effective mass communication, and a system of terroristic police control.
Totalitarianism is a system where technologically advanced instruments of political power are wielded without
restraint by centralized leadership of an elite movement, for the purpose of effecting a total social revolution,
including the conditioning of man, on the basis of certain arbitrary ideological assumptions proclaimed by the
leadership, in an atmosphere of coerced unanimity of the entire population.
the totalitarian movements operate today, competing electorally and plotting conspiratorially, in a nontotalitarian
environment. Their task is to overthrow, at an opportune moment, the existing political systems
and to seize power as a prerequisite to the implementation of their programmatic goals.
the next stage follows the seizure of power, with the totalitarian movement solidifying its hold on the
instruments of power. This is the period of entrenchment, of occasional compromise, of preparation.
Active opposition elements are removed and comprehensive plans for future operations drafted. Gradual
efforts to penetrate and neutralize hitherto abstaining groups, which could become potential sources of
resistance, are made in anticipation of their total absorption.
Brzezinski, Z. (1956). Totalitarianism and rationality. The American Political Science Review, 50(3), 751-763.
Brzezinski suggests totalitarian governments can fade over time, and C. Wright Mills says that political/corporate/military powers are often in conflict and join together occasionally.
C. Wright Mills (1956, as cited in Joseph, 1982) proposed a three-level pluralistic theory
of power: at the top was the executive branch of government, along with corporations and the
defense industry; the middle level was composed of interest groups where the pluralistic model
of competition actually occurred; and the bottom level held the general public. Seeking to
differentiate his theory from Marxism, which stated that the economic sector held all the power,
Mills saw power as being equal among the three groups in the top level (Mills, 1956, as cited in
Joseph, 1982). “Mills maintained that political, military, and economic elites all exercised a
considerable degree of autonomy, that they were often in conflict, and that they acted in concert
only on certain occasions” (Mills, 1956, as cited in Joseph, 1982, p. 250).
Joseph, L. (1982). Corporate political power & liberal democratic theory. Polity, 15(2), 246-267.
We had a totalitarian government after 9/11, and things have been operating under the illusion of democracy ever since.
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