Totalitarianism
eBook - PDF

Totalitarianism

  1. English
  2. PDF
  3. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Totalitarianism

About this book

Less than a century old, the concept of totalitarianism is one of the most controversial in political theory, with some proposing to abandon it altogether. In this accessible, wide-ranging introduction, David Roberts addresses the grounds for skepticism and shows that appropriately recast—as an aspiration and direction, rather than a system of domination—totalitarianism is essential for understanding the modern political universe. Surveying the career of the concept from the 1920s to today, Roberts shows how it might better be applied to the three ""classic"" regimes of Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and the Stalinist Soviet Union. Extending totalitarianism's reach into the twenty-first century, he then examines how Communist China, Vladimir Putin's Russia, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS), and the threat of the technological "surveillance state" can be conceptualized in the totalitarian tradition. Roberts shows that although the term has come to have overwhelmingly negative connotations, some have enthusiastically pursued a totalitarian direction—and not simply for power, control, or domination. This volume will be essential reading for any student, scholar or reader interested in how totalitarianism does, and could, shape our modern political world.

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Yes, you can access Totalitarianism by David D. Roberts in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Philosophy & Political Philosophy. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher
Polity
Year
2020
Print ISBN
9781509532407, 9781509532391
eBook ISBN
9781509532414
Edition
1
Topic
Philosophy
Subtopic
Political Philosophy
1
Why 
Should 
We 
Care 
about 
Totalitarianism?
A 
new 
political 
phenomenon
Coined 
by 
an 
Italian 
anti-fascist 
in 
1923, 
the 
term 
“totali-
tarianism” 
quickly 
became 
part 
of 
our 
vocabulary, 
and 
the 
concept 
has 
now 
been 
central 
to 
political 
discussion 
for 
almost 
a 
century. 
However, 
it 
has 
long 
been 
one 
of 
the 
most 
uncertain 
and 
controversial 
of 
the 
key 
concepts 
in 
political 
theory. 
Some 
critics 
advocate 
abandoning 
it 
altogether. 
But 
after 
surveying 
the 
uses 
that 
have 
been 
made 
of 
the 
category, 
and 
looking 
again 
at 
the 
most 
prominent 
cases, 
this 
book 
will 
argue 
that 
totalitarianism 
remains 
essential 
to 
understanding 
the 
modern 
political 
universe. 
Still, 
the 
notion 
has 
often 
been 
misused 
or 
misconstrued, 
so 
we 
need 
a 
deeper, 
recast 
under-
standing 
of 
what 
totalitarianism 
might 
mean.
It 
is 
not 
hard 
to 
explain 
why 
we 
should 
care 
about 
the 
political 
phenomena 
most 
frequently 
labeled 
totalitarian, 
starting 
with 
three 
novel 
experiments 
that 
emerged 
in 
Europe 
in 
the 
wake 
of 
World 
War 
I. 
These 
were 
the 
fascist 
regime 
in 
Italy, 
the 
Nazi 
regime 
in 
Germany, 
and 
the 
communist 
regime 
in 
the 
Soviet 
Union, 
especially 
as 
it 
settled 
out 
the 
1930s 
under 
Joseph 
Stalin. 
They 
were 
not 
only 
new 
but 
largely 
unanticipated, 
though 
in 
retrospect 
we 
can 
see 

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title page
  3. Copyright page
  4. Contents
  5. 1 Why Should We Care about Totalitarianism?
  6. 2 The Career of a Concept
  7. 3 Totalitarian Trajectories During the Era of the Two World Wars
  8. 4 Movements and Regimes Since World War II
  9. 5 The Future of Totalitarianism
  10. Notes
  11. Index
  12. EULA