David D. Roberts - Totalitarianism

1 Series title

2 Title page Totalitarianism David D. Roberts polity

3 Copyright page

4 1 Why Should We Care about Totalitarianism? A new political phenomenon The range of totalitarianism Grounds for doubt about the category The scope for learning from experience Notes

5 2 The Career of a Concept As understood by insiders at the time As a critical and analytical concept The quest for deep historical roots George Orwell’s dystopia The ongoing influence of Hannah Arendt Friedrich and Brzezinski: the political science approach Robert Jay Lifton and thought reform in communist China Herbert Marcuse and the wider use of totalitarianism The testimony of opponents and victims Moralism and overuse Recent defenders and recasters Notes

6 3 Totalitarian Trajectories During the Era of the Tw o World Wars Recasting the category Fascist Italy The communist experiment in the Soviet Union Nazi Germany From the earlier to the later cases Notes

7 4 Movements and Regimes since World War II The waning of communism in the Soviet bloc Beyond Europe: the Chinese communist experiment Radical Islam or “Islamism” The Islamic Republic of Iran Notes

8 5 The Future of Totalitarianism Neo-fascism and populism Vladimir Putin’s Russia China under Xi Jinping The Islamic world The scope for further totalitarian departures The totalitarian potential of new technologies Adjusting the concept in light of new experience Relating to totalitarians and learning from experience Notes

9 Index

10 End User License Agreement

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David D. Roberts

polity

Copyright © David D. Roberts 2020

The right of David D. Roberts to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2020 by Polity Press

Polity Press

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Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

Polity Press

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Medford, MA 02155, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3239-1

ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3240-7(pb)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Roberts, David D., 1943- author. | Polity Press.

Title: Totalitarianism / David D. Roberts.

Other titles: Key concepts in political theory.

Description: Medford, Massachusetts : Polity, 2020. | Series: Key concepts in political theory | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “David Roberts outlines the contours and history of totalitarianism”-- Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019038605 (print) | LCCN 2019038606 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509532391 (Hardback) | ISBN 9781509532407 (Paperback) | ISBN 9781509532421 (ePUB)

Subjects: LCSH: Totalitarianism. | Totalitarianism--History.

Classification: LCC JC480 .R635 2020 (print) | LCC JC480 (ebook) | DDC 321.9--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019038605

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019038606

Typeset in 10.5 on 12 pt Sabon

by Fakenham Prepress Solutions, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NL

Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon

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Coined by an Italian anti-fascist in 1923, the term “totalitarianism” quickly became part of our vocabulary, and the concept has now been central to political discussion for almost a century. However, it has long been one of the most uncertain and controversial of the key concepts in political theory. Some critics advocate abandoning it altogether. But after surveying the uses that have been made of the category, and looking again at the most prominent cases, this book will argue that totalitarianism remains essential to understanding the modern political universe. Still, the notion has often been misused or misconstrued, so we need a deeper, recast understanding of what totalitarianism might mean.

It is not hard to explain why we should care about the political phenomena most frequently labeled totalitarian, starting with three novel experiments that emerged in Europe in the wake of World War I. These were the fascist regime in Italy, the Nazi regime in Germany, and the communist regime in the Soviet Union, especially as it settled out the 1930s under Joseph Stalin. They were not only new but largely unanticipated, though in retrospect we can see foreshadowing in the “total mobilization” during World War I, including government coordination of the economy and manipulation of public opinion. For the influential Bulgarian-born Parisian intellectual Tzvetan Todorov, writing in 2000, the emergence of totalitarianism, leading to a long conflict with democracy, was nothing less than the central event of the twentieth century. 1