Lecture
Political power is diverse in its forms and means of manifestation. Political regime is a system of techniques, methods, and ways of exercising political (including state) power in society.
There are countless varieties of political regimes. But in political studies, the main types of political regime are usually distinguished: totalitarian, authoritarian, and democratic. Let us examine each of these regimes in more detail.
The term "totalitarianism" derives from the medieval Latin word "totalis", meaning "whole", "complete", "general". Totalitarianism is the total control and strict regulation by the state of all spheres of society's life and of every individual, exercised through direct armed violence. The state absorbs the whole of society and the individual person.
The term "totalitarian" was introduced into political vocabulary by the leader of the Italian fascists, B. Mussolini (1883-1945). The goal of the fascist movement, in his view, was to create a strong state, relying exclusively on force-based principles of exercising power. B. Mussolini expressed the essence of totalitarianism in the formula: "Everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state". From 1925 he began using the term "totalitarianism" to characterize the fascist state. And from 1929 (the newspaper "The Times") this term came to be applied to the regime that had taken shape in the Soviet Union.
Totalitarianism arose in the 20th century as a political regime, as a particular model of socio-economic order characteristic of the stage of industrial development, and as an ideology. The creation of an extensive system of mass communications made it possible to ensure ideological and political control over the individual. The individual, meanwhile, amid the destruction of traditional forms of life, became defenseless before the world of market forces and competition. The growing complexity of social relations required a strengthening of the role of the state ("statism") as a universal regulator and organizer of the interaction of individuals with divergent interests. Experience shows that totalitarian regimes, as a rule, arise under extraordinary conditions: growing instability in society; a deep crisis engulfing all aspects of life; or, finally, the need to resolve a strategic task of exceptional importance for the country.
Among the main features that characterize totalitarianism as a political regime, the following are distinguished:
1. An excessively centralized structure of power, having a pyramidal shape, at the apex of which stands a leader or a group. The ruling group bears no responsibility before any elected body, concentrating legislative, executive, and judicial power in its own hands.
2. State power is formed through channels closed off from society, surrounded by an "aura of secrecy" and inaccessible to control by the people.
3. Monopolistic state control over the economy, the mass media, culture, religion, and so on, extending even to private life and to the motives behind people's actions.
4. Complete disenfranchisement of the individual. Political rights and freedoms are formally recorded but are absent in reality. The laws protect only the interests of the ruling elite, presented as the interests of the state. There are serious restrictions not only on political rights but also on other rights, such as the right to hold public office, freedom of movement, freedom to choose one's place of residence, and freedom to choose one's profession, and so on.
5. The police and the special services, alongside their function of maintaining law and order, perform the function of punitive bodies and act as an instrument of mass repression. Where necessary, the army is used for these purposes as well.
6. The dominance of a single party, the de facto fusion of its professional apparatus with the state, and the banning of opposition-minded forces.
7. The dominant methods of governance are coercion, violence, and terror.
Fear and blind faith are the chief resources of totalitarian rule. In people's minds an image of the enemy is intensively cultivated, an enemy with whom there can be no reconciliation. Every effort is made to sustain a combative mood, an atmosphere of secrecy and of emergency, which allows no relaxation or loss of vigilance. All of this serves to justify command methods of governance and repression.
The features noted above, along with certain others, are present to a greater or lesser degree in all totalitarian regimes. However, such states also display substantial differences, on the basis of which several varieties of totalitarianism are distinguished: communist, fascist, and theocratic. Other totalitarian regimes, in one way or another, are affiliated with these three varieties.
The communist totalitarian regime existed in the USSR and in other socialist states. Today, to one degree or another, it still exists in Cuba and in North Korea. A number of researchers regard this type of totalitarianism as the classic one, since it entails maximal state control over every sphere, the complete elimination of private property, and the subordination of the individual to state interests formed on the basis of "the one true and scientific ideology".
Fascism was first established in Italy in 1922. Fascist regimes also existed in Spain, Portugal, and Chile.
A misanthropic variety of fascism was German National Socialism, which achieved state embodiment in 1933. The totalitarian Nazi regime lasted until 1945. In Germany the emphasis was placed on the national and racial superiority of the Germans, as well as on the search for an external enemy — inferior races that had to be subjugated or exterminated.
In recent decades religious totalitarianism has made itself known. This political practice is characteristic of Iran, where all social life is built on the basis of the tenets of Islam, with harsh demands placed both on its own followers and on "infidels". A distinctive variety of this type of totalitarianism took hold in Afghanistan with the Taliban's rise to power.
Total totalitarianism is rare in human history. A potential for spiritual resistance always remains. Within the totalitarian regime itself, forces arise that are capable of undermining the system of absolute power or of preparing the conditions for its political evolution.
At present, authoritarian political regimes have been established in many countries of the world. According to some estimates, under current conditions about 100 states can be classified as authoritarian regimes. This is quite a large number of countries with diverse forms of government - ranging from military-dictatorial to monarchical. They occupy an intermediate position between democratic and totalitarian political regimes. Thus, like totalitarianism, authoritarian political regimes are distinguished by the almost unlimited power of state bodies. This manifests itself in firm political rule, reliance, when necessary, on coercive and forceful methods for regulating social processes. At the same time, like democracy, authoritarianism is characterized by the preservation of a sphere of civil society, private initiative in the economy, and market competition.
The main social support of an authoritarian regime is, as a rule, groups of the military ( «power ministries») and the state bureaucracy. Their actions, aimed at strengthening the monopolization of power, often prove quite effective. However, these regimes are poorly suited to establishing effective communication between the authorities and ordinary citizens. And herein lies a danger to the very existence of the authoritarian political regime.
Authoritarianism is characterized by the following distinctive features:
1. At the center and locally, power becomes concentrated in the hands of one or several closely interconnected bodies, while the people are simultaneously alienated from the real levers of state power.
2. The political rights and freedoms of citizens are significantly restricted. Laws protect predominantly the interests of the state rather than of the individual. In the legislative sphere the principle applies: "everything that is not permitted is forbidden".
3. There is no clear separation of powers. A significant concentration of executive and often legislative power lies in the hands of the head of state, with limited parliamentary control over state policy. The executive branch exerts influence over the judiciary.
4. There is partial pluralism; opposition is not permitted, and only an imitation of a multi-party system may exist, because all existing parties must align themselves with the line worked out by the ruling party.
5. The formation of the organs of power takes place by non-democratic means, through appointment "from above". As a result, the entourage of the authoritarian leader is selected on the basis of personal sympathies and devotion to him, rather than in accordance with professional qualities and abilities.
6. "Power" structures are practically uncontrolled by society and are at times used for purely political purposes.
7. Command and administrative methods dominate as methods of state governance; at the same time, terror is absent, and mass repressions and harsh violent methods of exercising political power are practically not applied.
The authoritarian political regime has its advantages and disadvantages. Its advantages are especially noticeable in extreme situations. Authoritarian power can ensure public order and political stability, and can mobilize public resources to accomplish particular tasks. The disadvantages of authoritarianism include the complete dependence of policy on the position of the head of state and his entourage, and a taboo on citizens expressing their political views.
Authoritarianism occupies, as it were, an intermediate position between democracy and totalitarianism. Under the influence of a complex set of economic, socio-political, cultural, and other factors, it ultimately evolves in the direction of either democracy or totalitarianism. Such a transitional character was borne by authoritarian political systems in the last decades of the 20th century. Thus, the authoritarian regime of F. Castro, established in 1959 in Cuba, later evolved into totalitarianism. In a number of other countries (Chile, Thailand, Haiti, Panama, and others), authoritarianism gradually evolved along the path of democracy.
Democracy is the most complex type of political regime. The term «democracy», translated from the Greek (demos - people, kratos - power, rule), means «rule of the people».
Democracy is a form of the state, its political regime, in which the people or the majority of the people is (or is considered to be) the bearer of state power.
Democracy is associated with freedom, equality, justice, respect for human rights, and citizens' participation in governance. That is why democracy as a political regime is usually contrasted with authoritarian, totalitarian, and other dictatorial regimes.
The main features of a democratic regime:
1. Recognition of the people as the source of power, as sovereign in the state. Popular sovereignty is expressed in the fact that it is the people to whom the constituent, constitutional power in the state belongs. The people elect their representatives and may periodically replace them; in a number of countries they also have the right to participate directly in the drafting and adoption of laws through popular initiatives and referendums.
2. Free expression of the will of the people in elections, and the electivity of bodies of state power. This principle is regarded as a key condition of a democratic regime. It provides for the possibility of free and honest elections that exclude any coercion or violence. All persons who control the structures of power must be elected on the basis of legally established procedures and must be periodically re-elected at strictly established intervals. Voters must have the right and the opportunity to recall their representatives.
3. The priority of the rights and freedoms of the person and citizen over the rights of the state. Bodies of state power are called upon to protect the rights and freedoms of the individual, which a person acquires by virtue of birth. As well as civil rights and political freedoms, including the right to life, liberty, and personal security, to equality before the law, to citizenship and participation in the governance of one's own country, to non-interference in one's private and family life, and so on.
4. Citizens possess a large body of rights and freedoms, which are not merely proclaimed but are also legally secured to them. In democratic states the legal principle applies: "everything that is not forbidden is permitted".
5. A clear separation of power into legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The highest legislative body of the country - the parliament - is vested with the exclusive right to enact laws. In a certain sense this body has a preeminent role, and, consequently, there exists a potential danger of an excessive concentration of political power within it. That is why, under a democratic political regime, the three branches of political power balance one another. In particular, the supreme executive power (the president, the government) has the right of legislative, budgetary, and personnel initiative. The president has the right of veto over decisions adopted by legislative bodies. The judicial power has the authority to overturn decisions of both the legislative and the executive power.
6. The police, security services, and army perform the functions of ensuring the internal and external security of the state and society. Their actions are regulated and constrained by the operation of the law. The main functions of maintaining law and order belong not to the army and security services, but to the police and the courts.
7. Political pluralism and a multiparty system. Under a democratic regime, a multiparty system operates, in which one party may replace another in power on a legitimate basis as a result of elections. All political parties must be placed on an equal legal footing in their struggle for the votes of the electorate and for their representation in the bodies of state power. According to the results of elections, the political parties that win the majority of the votes gain the right to form the organs of power and acquire the status of the ruling party. Those who lose the elections receive the status of the opposition party. In carrying out its mission, the opposition speaks out in criticism of the organs of power. It puts forward an alternative programme. The opposition monitors the authorities through the activity of its factions and blocs in parliaments, and through its own information and print media.
8. Power in the state is based to a greater extent on persuasion than on coercion. In making political decisions, procedures aimed at finding compromise and consensus predominate.
The principles of the democratic regime listed above may create an idealized image of democracy. Of course, the merits of democracy, and consequently of the democratic political regime, are obvious and indisputable. However, democracy also has its vulnerable sides and shortcomings.
Democracy is sometimes ironically defined as "the rule of the greater part of society over the better part", under which political dilettantism flourishes and mediocrity runs rampant. Democracy does not guarantee against the rise to power of self-interested people, of low culture and morals but sophisticated minds and populist methods.
Of course, democracy is not an ideal phenomenon, but, despite all its shortcomings, it is a better and fairer form of government than any other known so far.
The main ways (forms) of implementing democracy.
Depending on how the people participate in governance, and who exercises power directly and how, democracy is divided into direct (plebiscitary) and representative (representative) democracy.
The forms of direct democracy include: holding elections on the basis of universal suffrage, referendums, and nationwide discussions
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