authoritarianism

Society

2022

We explain what authoritarianism is, how it becomes a form of government, its characteristics, examples and differences with totalitarianism.

An authoritarian leader imposes his will even above the law.

What is authoritarianism?

Generally, by authoritarianism we mean the tendency to concentrate can only one person, or to confer an inordinate power and without limits, oppressive and abusive, in an authority figure. It can occur in our daily life, such as at work, or it can become a model of government, this being the case of an authoritarian regime or government.

Authoritarianism generally requires blind submission to authority, eradicating Liberty of choice, action and opinion. He often achieves this through coercion or force.

The leaders Authoritarian or authoritarian power figures often do not pay much attention to laws or the wishes of others, but rather they impose their will above all else, concentrating power on themselves and on those who are loyal to them. In this sense, authoritarian governments tend to lead more or less directly to dictatorial regimes.

In the case of authoritarian regimes, that is, when authoritarianism becomes a model of government, it usually has a powerful elite or a leadership loyal to the wishes and mandates of the authoritarian leader or caudillo, whose will is respected above the laws and under threat of physical, economic or social harm.

Opposition and dissent are often silenced or threatened in such regimes, often under the guise of protecting the sovereignty national or to defend the national interest. For practical purposes, this translates into the impossibility of removing power from the authoritarians, which is always incompatible with the democracy and the Rule of law.

Characteristics of authoritarianism

Authoritarian governments like that of Trujillo criminally persecute enemies.

Authoritarianism is understood as follows:

  • Authority is respected above any other law, precept or desire, and is often attitude it is reinforced by persecution, threats, physical harm or selective sanctions.
  • Obedience and fidelity to the authoritarian leader are rewarded above the democratic values ​​of Justice, freedom or plurality, while any form of dissent is punished.
  • Power is concentrated in a single figure, who is exalted as a deity, and is awarded glorious titles: chieftain, supreme leader, etc.

Authoritarianism and totalitarianism

Authoritarianism and totalitarianism are two different forms of political and social oppression.

Authoritarianism should not be confused with totalitarianism, despite the fact that both lead, as government regimes, to the dictatorship. These are concepts that involve a subtle difference, but which generally has to do with the model of political exercise and of society they pose.

Authoritarianism allows the existence of a diverse society, as long as it is subject to the leader's designs. On the other hand, totalitarianism aspires to a homogenization of society itself, through the imposition of a set of ideals or ideologies through the violence.

In this way, totalitarianism fills the spaces of dissent and eradicates any form of diversity. It is not that any are "better" or "worse", however. They are only two different forms of political and social oppression, the distinction of which serves so that the Political Sciences can distinguish some dictatorships from others.

Examples of authoritarianism

Mugabe ruled for 30 years until he was deposed by the current Zimbabwean president.

Unfortunately, the world is not short of examples of authoritarianism, especially as a government regime. So here are some examples of authoritarian regimes from recent history:

  • Mugabe's government in Zimbabwe. Ruled with an iron fist by a former hero of independence, this African nation suffered the personalistic and autocratic government of Robert Mugabe sustained through elections accused of fraud and in the midst of a brutal economic crisis. Mugabe ruled from 1987 until a coup in 2017, two years before his death.
  • The trujillato in the Dominican Republic. That of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo was one of the most atrocious dictatorships in the Latin America. It lasted between 1930 and 1961, the year in which the military leader was finally assassinated.
  • Pinochetism in Chile. After the coup that overthrew the socialist government of Salvador Allende in 1973, Chile was governed by a conservative and terrorist regime until 1990. The supreme authority of that government was Augusto Pinochet, and during his years in office there were almost 30 thousand victims of political prison and torture, 2,300 executed and around 1,200 disappeared.
  • The Franco regime in Spain. In 1936 the Spanish Civil War took place, where various political factions clashed, after a conservative military leadership, led by the military man Francisco Franco, gave a coup against the Second Spanish Republic. Of this conflict Franco himself would emerge as the leader and caudillo of Spain, a country that ruled by fire and blood until 1975.
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