totalitarianism
Complete governmental control
Totalitarianism is a system of government that demands complete control over public and private life, permitting no opposition or independent institutions.
The state regulates everything—economy, education, media, family—and typically enforces conformity through surveillance and terror.
The term emerged in the twentieth century to describe regimes like Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia: Totalitarianism crushes individual liberty in the name of the collective.
Distinguished from mere authoritarianism by its ambition to reshape society entirely rather than simply maintain power.
Unchecked single-ruler government
- regimeSystem of governance
- juntaPost-coup ruling clique
- police stateRegime controlling through surveillance
- one-party stateSole legal ruling faction
fascism · Nazism · Stalinism · Maoism · Soviet Union · Third Reich · North Korea · authoritarianism
Imaginary terrible society
- 1984Dystopian surveillance state tale
- doublethinkHolding contradictory beliefs simultaneously
- doublespeakDeliberately misleading language
- thoughtcrimeProhibited beliefs under authoritarianism
Big Brother · telescreens · unperson · memory hole · Room 101 · Oceania · proles · Ministry of Truth
Doctrine of governmental dominance
- collectivismGroup primacy doctrine
- Marxism-LeninismState-led revolutionary socialism
- nationalismDevotion to one's country
- ultranationalismExtreme supremacist patriotism
fascism · communism · ideologue · dogma · doctrinaire · utopianism · social engineering · central planning
Systematic observation of subjects
- censorshipOfficial content restriction
- propagandaBiased information for influence
- indoctrinationSystematic uncritical belief instillation
- secret policeClandestine state security apparatus
informants · thought control · mass mobilization · show trials · purges · gulags · concentration camps · reeducation
Unconscious blocking of thoughts
- persecutionSystematic mistreatment of groups
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
- terrorExtreme, overwhelming fear
- political prisonersPeople jailed for ideology
dissidents · forced labor · ethnic cleansing · genocide · human rights abuses · disappearances · torture · execution
State of being identical
- homogeneityState of sameness throughout
- groupthinkConformity-driven poor decisions
- obedienceCompliance with authority
- submissionYielding to another's will
compliance · regimentation · standardization · collectivization · mass rallies · loyalty oaths · self-criticism · denunciation
dictatorship
Unchecked single-ruler government
- regimeSystem of governance
- juntaPost-coup ruling clique
- police stateRegime controlling through surveillance
one-party state · fascism · Nazism · Stalinism · Maoism · Soviet Union · Third Reich · North Korea · authoritarianism · military dictatorship
dystopia
Imaginary terrible society
- 1984Dystopian surveillance state tale
- doublethinkHolding contradictory beliefs simultaneously
- doublespeakDeliberately misleading language
thoughtcrime · Big Brother · telescreens · unperson · memory hole · Room 101 · Oceania · proles · Ministry of Truth · Brave New World
statism
Doctrine of governmental dominance
- collectivismGroup primacy doctrine
- Marxism-LeninismState-led revolutionary socialism
- nationalismDevotion to one's country
ultranationalism · fascism · communism · ideologue · dogma · doctrinaire · utopianism · social engineering · central planning · command economy
surveillance
Systematic observation of subjects
- censorshipOfficial content restriction
- propagandaBiased information for influence
- indoctrinationSystematic uncritical belief instillation
secret police · informants · thought control · mass mobilization · show trials · purges · gulags · concentration camps · reeducation · brainwashing
repression
Unconscious blocking of thoughts
- persecutionSystematic mistreatment of groups
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
- terrorExtreme, overwhelming fear
political prisoners · dissidents · forced labor · ethnic cleansing · genocide · human rights abuses · disappearances · torture · execution · exile
uniformity
State of being identical
- homogeneityState of sameness throughout
- groupthinkConformity-driven poor decisions
- obedienceCompliance with authority
submission · compliance · regimentation · standardization · collectivization · mass rallies · loyalty oaths · self-criticism · denunciation · conformism
- long wordssupercalifragilisticexpialidocious, antidisestablishmentarianism, incomprehensibilities, counterrevolutionary, electroencephalograph
- political repressionpolitical prisoners, political crimes, political purges, secret police, show trials
- Dystopia1984, Nineteen Eighty-Four, dystopian fiction, Brave New World, surveillance state
- governancegovernance, government, democracy, vote, parliament
- governmentsdemocracy, monarchy, autocracy, oligarchy, republic
- social systemspolitical systems, capitalism, feudalism, economic systems, socialism
totalitarianismdemocracy
Rule by the people
liberal democracy · pluralism · constitutional democracy · parliamentary democracy · republicanism
totalitarianismfreedom
Absence of constraint
liberty · autonomy · self-determination · individual freedom · personal liberty
totalitarianismcivil society
Nongovernmental organized citizenry
libertarianism · pluralism · decentralization · open society · free press
total, totally, totality, totals, totaled, totalitarian, subtotal, totalize, totalitarians