The totalitarian state is a legacy of the twentieth century

Historically, the twentieth century has become a century of not only a stormy scientific and industrial rise, but also the emergence, as well as the emergence of political regimes. So, it was in this century that a new and still discussed phenomenon arose-a totalitarian state.

History of origin and development

For the first time, totalitarian societies and, as a consequence, states began to speak in the twenties of the twentieth century. And in this case Benito Mussolini (according to other sources J. Gentile) is the founder of this phenomenon, but the origins of totalitarianism lie much deeper. Ideas of such a society, its distinctive features can be traced even in the works of Plato and later philosophers - Campanella, Marx and even Zh.Zh. Rousseau. But they could only come to life in the first third of the twentieth century.

In Europe, only the war ended. The terms of the peace treaties were so flawed for the countries that lost it, that, it seems, they do not get out of the deep crisis, aggravated by the Great Depression. Against the backdrop of the impoverished people, the idea that only the total submission of the state to all spheres of society's life will help to find a way out of the existing circumstances is increasingly emerging. It is not accidental that the considered form of the state is formed only in countries that are obliged to pay reparations. So, similar regimes are formed in Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union. The origins of totalitarianism in these countries vary: somewhere a fascist ideology, somewhere communist - but the result is one "the state is everything". And the basic concepts, and the principles of action are one. Which will be demonstrated later.

The concept and signs of a totalitarian state

Speaking about totalitarianism as a phenomenon of public and political life of the country, it is always true that a person in such a state is a secondary figure. The needs of the state apparatus and its officials come to the forefront, which is, in principle, understandable. The very title contains the essence - "everything for the state." But in order to understand what it is expressed in, one should consider the main features of the phenomenon under study.

The signs of a totalitarian state are represented by the following characteristics typical only for him:

1. The way of emergence and establishment is always connected with violence. This is clearly demonstrated in the history of the Soviet Union, the National Socialists more veiled;
2. The existence of political pluralism is completely rejected. In this case, it is a question of prohibiting at the legal level all other parties, except the ruling party;
3. It follows logically from the preceding characteristic. The totalitarian state refutes the principle of separation of powers and the possibility of people's participation in the governance of the country;
4. The use of terror as a tool to suppress public discontent and eliminate persons displeasing to the regime;
5. The creation of special legislation aimed at retaining power and giving the acting force legitimate status;
6. The existence of a single, mandatory for all ideology, the deviation from which is punished at the level of particularly serious crimes;
7. The creation of a powerful military apparatus aimed at both an external enemy (in most cases it is still the conduct of predatory wars) and suppression of insurgencies and civil unrest;
8. The dominant role of the leader of the ruling party and its closest supporters in determining the ways of development of the state.
9. "Decorative" character of the judicial system obliged to make legal, but not legitimate decisions.

The totalitarian state as such denies the possibility of developing a person as a person whose rights and freedoms are a value. Such a political regime will always subordinate the individual to the acting system.

It remains only to note that the totalitarian state, as history has shown, is an unviable version of the functioning of society. And this statement is connected, above all, with the fact that denying the role of a person as a citizen and an active unit of society can lead to the overthrow of the regime considered.