Authoritarianism
Topic: Democracy: Forms of Government, Principles and Outcomes · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Authoritarianism is a system in which power is concentrated in a ruler or a small group that answers to no one. Political freedoms such as free speech, a free press and opposition are limited. Unlike totalitarianism, it does not try to control every part of people's private lives.
Example
India's Emergency (1975–77) is often cited as its brush with authoritarian rule. Rights were suspended, the press was censored and opposition leaders were jailed. Voters defeated the ruling party in 1977. The 44th Amendment (1978) then required the Cabinet's written advice for an Emergency and stopped Arts. 20–21 from being suspended.
Don't confuse with
- Totalitarianism (Arendt, 1951): this is the extreme form. One party or leader controls even private life through ideology, propaganda and terror, as in Nazi Germany, Stalin's USSR and North Korea.
Related concepts
- Absolute monarchy
- Constitutional monarchy
- Dictatorship
- Totalitarianism
- Oligarchy
- Plutocracy
- Technocracy