Talk:Authoritarianism
From Academic Kids
"Another country once considered authoritarian is Spain, under Franco. Some considered Totalitarian are Cuba and North Korea."
My god aren't Nazi Germany and USSR under Stalin more obvious examples than Cuba and North Korea ?
Ericd 21:15 Apr 10, 2003 (UTC)
- Yes, but the article classifies these as totalitarian, rather than authoritarian. I think these two articles should be merged: totalitarianism is simply the extreme case of authoritarianism.
- -- Anon, 217.158.106.24
- I'm not sure IMO totalitarianism has a strong ideologic support while authoritarianism is more pragmatic.
- Is authoritarianism equal to non-democracy or not is an absolute monarchy a form of authoritarianism ?
- Ericd 22:04 Apr 10, 2003 (UTC)
- What would be your classification of an enlightened despotic ruler who allows for e.g. freedom of religion and to speak your own language, versus someone who does not, like Franco or perhaps Constantine (in the interests of forcing some national unification of a disparate population) or someone who wants to dictate all the aspects of your life and mold you into a drone to do his bidding such as Hitler, Stalin or Mao?
- The first can approach a democratic rule in that it caters for the interests of everyone and is flexible (more libertarian) while the last is completely different. The rarity of totalitarian regimes suggests these are significantly different from authoritarian regimes to be classified differently. IMHO.
- Truly libertarian regimes are rare (do they exist for long at all?) because every community needs some sort of rules and enforcement in order to endure. Otherwise it risks destruction from within.
- Anonymous (194.65.100.7), 4:15 July, 2003 (UTC)
"Giant Flying Brick Vandalism" I will put it back in order. Find the culprit. Hadrian
A number of related pages have just been edited by the same, anonymous user (81.52.217.7), all illiterately, some PoV. I've just reverted this article to the last unaffected version. Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 22:23, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
I've just tidied the English of the article, and found this sentence: “In addition, critics of the thesis of developmental authoritarianism point to India, which had impressive of social forces that forced a transition to democracy.” Something's obviously missing from it, so I've removed it until I (or someone else) can rewrite it so that it makes sense. It was also inserted oddly between two sentences concerning S.E. Asia, so it would need to be moved somewhhere more sensible. Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 15:52, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Spain under Franco
Could a source be given for the claim about economic success, and something less vague and subjective than "noticeable" be used to describe it? Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 09:41, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)
