comparative politics
concepts
The most common definition of totalitarian regimes, categorized generally under the concept of “totalitarianism,” refers to modern antiliberal and antidemocratic regimes based on the monopolization of power by a revolutionary single party led by a charismatic leader and dominating over the state and society by means of terror and propaganda. Totalitarian regimes carry out their policy using a variety of institutions controlled by the single party: a highly centralized bureaucracy, an official and secret police, a party militia, the manipulation of culture and public opinion through the monopoly of mass media, and a network of organizations set up all over the country under the control of the single party, whose tasks are to regiment, indoctrinate, and mobilize permanently the individual and the masses. [Source: International Encyclopedia of Political Science; Totalitarian Regimes]
totalitarian regimes