adam@npois.UUCP (Adam V. Reed) (03/26/85)
Mike Kelly writes: > There is no difference between authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. > It is an invention of Jeanne Kirkpatrick to justify her support for > some tyrants and her denunciation of others. Torture is torture. I think you ate your foot with that one, Mike. The concept of Totalitarianism was first introduced by Hannah Arendt, a leftist refugee from Hitler's Germany to the United States, in the late 1930's. The distinction between authoritarian and totalitarian regimes was elaborated at length in Arendt't book "Totalitarianism", and used extensively in her other major books, including "Imperialism" and "Anti-Semitism". In essence, totalitarianism is the direction of governmental authority against prersonal autonomy per se, leaving no area in which the individual might make a choice without political constraints. Although not all ideologically motivated regimes are totalitarian, the goal of eliminating individual autonomy is usually motivated by a desire to change human nature in accordance with the requirements of some ideology or other. An authoritarian government, although totally unrestrained in protecting its own power and the interests it serves, is not interested in eliminating personal autonomy per se, and is not likely to interfere with expression of personal autonomy in other areas, such as aesthetics. State regulation of music, for example, is unknown outside totalitarian regimes, and indispensable in them: consider the prohibition of so-called "degenerate Jewish music" under Hitler, "decadent Capitalist music" under Stalin, and "dissolute Western music" under Qaddafi and Khoimeni. As for Kirkpatrick, it would be regrettable if her attempt, to exploit and vulgarize Arendt's insight in the service of U.S. foreign policy, were to succeed in eliminating the intellectually very useful concept of totalitarianism from political discourse. Note that this concept has in fact nothing to do with superpower rivalries: Russia and most of her satellites cannot be considered "totalitarian", by Arend'ts standards, after about 1956, while one of the few extant totalitarian regimes, the Lon Nol government (now -in-exile) of Cambodia, is a client of the United States. Adam Reed
adam@npois.UUCP (Adam V. Reed) (03/27/85)
Mike Kelly writes: > There is no difference between authoritarian and totalitarian regimes. > It is an invention of Jeanne Kirkpatrick to justify her support for > some tyrants and her denunciation of others. Torture is torture. I think you ate your foot with that one, Mike. The concept of Totalitarianism was first introduced by Hannah Arendt, a leftist refugee from Hitler's Germany to the United States, in the late 1930's. The distinction between authoritarian and totalitarian regimes was elaborated at length in Arendt't book "Totalitarianism", and used extensively in her other major books, including "Imperialism" and "Anti-Semitism". In essence, totalitarianism is the direction of governmental authority against prersonal autonomy per se, leaving no area in which the individual might make a choice without political constraints. Although not all ideologically motivated regimes are totalitarian, the goal of eliminating individual autonomy is usually motivated by a desire to change human nature in accordance with the requirements of some ideology or other. An authoritarian government, although totally unrestrained in protecting its own power and the interests it serves, is not trying to eliminate personal autonomy per se, and is not likely to interfere with expression of personal autonomy in other areas, such as aesthetics. State regulation of music, for example, is unknown outside totalitarian regimes, and indispensable in them: consider the prohibition of so-called "degenerate Jewish music" under Hitler, "decadent Capitalist music" under Stalin, and "dissolute Western music" under Qaddafi and Khoimeni. As for Kirkpatrick, it would be regrettable if her attempt, to exploit and vulgarize Arendt's insight in the service of U.S. foreign policy, were to succeed in eliminating the intellectually very useful concept of totalitarianism from political discourse. Note that this concept has in fact nothing to do with superpower rivalries: Russia and most of her satellites cannot be considered "totalitarian", by Arendt's standards, after about 1956, while one of the few extant totalitarian regimes, the Pol Pot government (now -in-exile) of Cambodia, is a client of the United States. Adam Reed