Part II – Political Regimes PDF

Q1 - Political sciences | Anna Sonnenschein Part II – Political regimes 1. Authoritarian and Totalitarian Regimes a. The notion of political regime Origins and definiti...

Q1 - Political sciences | Anna Sonnenschein Part II – Political regimes 1. Authoritarian and Totalitarian Regimes a. The notion of political regime Origins and definition Definition: The political regime as a mode of organization of (political) powers → Indeed, it organizes the powers established by the state → Put differently, the notion of regime covers all the rules or practices according to which people govern in each society. → JEAN-LOUIS QUERMONNE : “a set of ideological, institutional and sociological elements that concur to form the government of a given country during a given period”. Here again, political regimes cannot be understood as a static reality, for they evolve over time. Origin: Quite interestingly, many questions such as those regarding the form of government, the organization of political power or even the organizing principles of the delegation of power were already relevant in Ancient Greece and at the foundation of political philosophy. Ever since, there have been attempted typologies of political regime, combining subjective and objective appreciation of the regime: → subjective appreciation: searching for “good government” → objective appreciation: describing the functioning of the good government. Rousseau's classification is quite similar to that of Aristotle, since he classified governments based on two criteria: → the number of people exercising political power and sovereignty within the regime: o all the people, democracy, ochlocracy o a large part of the people, democracy, ochlocracy o the minority of the people aristocracy, oligarchy o only one person monarchy, tyranny → the justness of those regimes: he doesn't compare the various forms of government (so democracy v. aristocracy or aristocracy v. royalty) but rather with their corrupt form: o democracy: government by all or by a large part of the people o ochlocracy: government by all or by a large part of the people but in a corrupt way JUST FORM CORRUPT FORM Democracy Ochlocracy Aristocracy Oligarchy Monarchy Tyranny SO : it’s a classificatory ambition (describing) AND a normative ambition (judging) 14  Q1 - Political sciences | Anna Sonnenschein Criticism: The very idea of political regimes and the attempt to classify them are criticized for many reasons: → Normativity: there is always a latent idea that even today, there is a value judgment and regimes are compared with liberal democracy, which is the favored criterion o Ex: the good form of government, even if it's not said as such → Diversity of political regime: the diversity of the categories makes it too difficult to organize/classify them so normativity should be avoided → Focus on institutional variables: as for Marxist theories, the most important element is the economic structure, not institutional variables such as the political and legal structures. o We should focus on the economic structure, which is “the real foundation upon which a legal and political edifice stands” → “Juridicism” of the analysis the political regime: this criticism is made by sociology of institution and it o Necessarily to take into account formal AND informal organization of powers Contemporary typology of political regimes Political theorists of the 20th century have produced a new typology of political regimes taking into account two main features: → the degree of participation o Relying for instance on citizen participation alone is not possible because in totalitarian regimes, the level of political participation is very high o it's not because one can take part in the political life that we are in a democracy → the degree of political pluralism. o possibility for a majority and a minority/opposition to power to exist. This typology distinguishes between authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, mainly pluralistic democracies, and dictatorships (being either authoritarian or totalitarian regimes) → What characterizes authoritarian and totalitarian dictatorships as opposed to democratic regimes = the absence of open, pluralistic, and organized political competition at regular intervals for access to positions of political power o definition and identification by the negative (with an absence) Juan Linz carried out 4 criteria to classify dictatorships in the '60s → 2 major type of dictatorship: Totalitarian/Authoritarian regimes le + strict Totalitarianism Authoritarianism Limited pluralism tolerated (= more than Character +/- Political monism (= one group exercises the one group participates +/- autonomously monist of power entire political power) in political power) Political Depoliticization and apathy of the mobilization of Total mobilization of the population the population population Official and central ideology (individuals must Place of No structured ideological project (façade convert to the ideology of the regime and ideology adhesion / general indifference) respect its precepts) Arbitrary or discretionary leadership by an Limited arbitrary leadership by a small Leadership individual group or an individual monisme : une seule source suprême de pouvoir politique reconnue, et cette autorité est 15 généralement centralisée  Q1 - Political sciences | Anna Sonnenschein b. Totalitarianism Main characteristics |1| A “political religion”: official, central ideology → The ideology is a set of ideas, opinions and beliefs established as a doctrine, and influencing people and collective perceptions and behaviors. → The objective of the totalitarian regime is to obtain the undisputed support of the entire people for the ideological project it wants to obtain o this is a way to produce a new individual, in line with this specific ideology o It’s imposed through society o to have the support of all the population → Raymond Aron's definition: “politicization, ideological transfiguration of all possible faults of individuals and, in conclusion, a terror linked to police and to the ideology”. o Since everything is now a state activity, all activities are subject to the ideology o If you commit whatever crime (even minor) it is consider as an offense to the whole ideology o Ex: even economic and labor spheres are submitted to ideological control → Of course, all totalitarian ideologies are not the same, but what remains is the use of the ideology as political religion (Emilio Gentile) o to provide an interpretative framework of the whole social reality. → Therefore, a totalitarian regime is considered “ideocracy”, o A system organized around the implementation of an ideological project to which everything else is subordinated |2| Strong social control At the heart of any given totalitarian regime, there is an important mechanism of control of every individual and all their activities. → It allows power to identify all forms of resistance, dissent, disobedience, and anti-conformism and of course, to punish them. → This control is diffuse, meaning that it is spread everywhere in society and not only in the political sector and → therefore, organizing against such regime on the long run is not possible. o It doesn't mean there have not been resistance attempts in the past, but the system is organized such a way that those movements cannot last over time. → For such massive and diffuse control to exist, the active participation of the population is required: o there has to be a relay of the power in all spheres of life o Ex: workspace, neighborhood, family etc |3| A fully mobilized population: Participation of the population is very controlled, yet there is a very active mobilization → Selection of the elite → Ex: the million members of the single parties in totalitarian regimes, trade unions, collateral organizations linked to the parties such as youth organizations, which aim to mobilize and make sure people participate to social control and the ideology seen before. thus : par conséquent Criticisms are thus made impossible by the overwhelming presence of the supporters of the regime, → who are likely to report/denounce the slightest failure of those who don't comply → It shows both in the public and in the private spheres o Ex: influence of the HITLER JUNGEN, the youth organization of the Nazi party. It indoctrinated children when they were only toddlers in order not only to transform them into new men and women, but also to make them active members and spies of the regime 16  Q1 - Political sciences | Anna Sonnenschein → Political denunciation is encouraged and deemed a citizen duty, o meaning that abstaining to denounce someone who is not in line with the regime is qualified of criminal complicity. o The organization of the totalitarian regime penetrates all social groups and creates mistrust in society As a way of consequence, there is what Hannah Arendt called the atomization of civil society: → meaning that society is a set of different atoms separate from each other: o they are parts/units without any link/interaction whatsoever between them → According to her, this atomization leads to: – o the destruction of belonging groups (family included) o disruption of solidarity o feeling of increasing isolation of individuals o general sense of insecurity (you can be incriminated and denounce at ay time) o general servility and submission to power. → She highlights that this concerns everyone in society: o No one is safe: the lowest ranks of population as well as the highest o Ex: purges of the Stalinist period in the '30s |4| Terror Terror it is the essence of totalitarianism (according to Hannah Arendt) → This is quite criticized, since it implies a very restrictive definition: if so is the truth, it only only concerns the 12 years of the Nazi regime in Germany and two short periods of time in the history of the USSR in the '30s. → For some authors, this vision of totalitarianism is too limited and doesn't allow to take into account the types of dictatorship in which ideology and the supervision of the population are central, but where terror is not so important o Ex: fascist Italy; Cuba, some periods of communist China etc. → Juan Linz for instance considered that we should not take terror as a criterion for the definition of totalitarianism because “there is a possible of totalitarianism without terror”. → As for him, the most important thing is the mechanism of political and social control understood for example as the “diffuse control based on voluntary support with a mixture of rewards and fears within a society” The totalitarian system There are 4 tools at the basis of the functioning of the totalitarian regime: |1| Single party and all the collateral organizations aforementioned The single party allows to exercise tremendous control over the entire society and its functions are the following: → supervising the population → educating the masses → worshiping the leader → selecting the elite of the regime. That's why youth organizations are so important in such regime, for their purpose is to: → integrate and enroll young people from a very young age: o it shapes them into what the ideology expects individuals to be → create spies and means of control within families 17  Q1 - Political sciences | Anna Sonnenschein → provide incentives for the regimes: political powers have different resources, among which incentives, most notably incentives to support the regime → They can have a control over the whole society! |2| Totalitarian leader and the cult around his persona As previously seen, most of the time, there is a charismatic leader at the head of the regime and they sometimes even give their name to the regime (WEBER): → such leader embodies the regime as its visionary → they cannot be mistaken and are often assimilated to a divinity. → It's not because the leader as remarkable charisma, but rather because there is a machinery behind them Result of techniques of exercising power → Cult of the personality → no emergence of autonomous centre of political power (elimination of competitors, surveillance by the political police, etc.) → criticism and pluralism are suppressed |3| The central ideology The fact that this official ideology/political religion exists has some specific pragmatic consequences that qualify it as a tool for the existence of totalitarianism. The regime: → has absolute monopoly on all forms of public, cultural, and artistic expression → destroys existing institutions, religions, and philosophies → designates an objective enemy (defined by what it is rather than because of what it does) → targets categories of people to be eliminated |4| The excessive development of the repressive machinery Total domination of the population is effective because all criminal incriminations are arbitrary, → it increases fear within the population: → the suspected categories are blurred so everyone is a potential suspect → Ex: concentration camps are a symbol of the repressive machinery of totalitarianism. The critique of the notion of totalitarianism The concept is not given by nature, it's quite disputed → Ex: the opposition between ARENDT and LINZ regarding the role of terror. → In a more general way, there have been controversies as to whether totalitarianism should be used or not as a scientific concept. The notion faces two types of criticism: |1| Comparison between Nazism and Stalinism : → Totalitarianism itself holds an implicit comparison between nazism and stalinism, since it is, in essence, about comparing the Nazi experience in Germany and two short periods of stalinist USSR in one category. → Authors criticized this unique category, for its existence mitigates the differences between the two regimes and their specific trajectories: → They have common features, but also important ideological differences. o communism is more bureaucratic, while Nazism is rather charismatic o Nazi terror is expansionist (projected outside the borders of the country), whereas terror in the USSR is national. |2| Capacity of totalitarian regimes to atomize civil society: 18  Q1 - Political sciences | Anna Sonnenschein → Some authors consider that even though an ideology controls the entire population, it doesn't mean that all resistance is wiped out: they dispute the fact that totalitarianism in essence leaves no room for society in its analysis. → English historian Ian Kershaw studied Bavaria and his study showed that an autonomous popular opinion remains, whatever the Nazi ideology o the idea of the atomization of civil society does not exist to the extent alleged by Hannah Arendt. Conclusion: totalitarianism is a key concept in the understanding and analysis of the 20th century. → It remains important to try to understand and classify it: o “totalitarianism is inescapable for political theory, in order to draw up a typology of forms of power (…), insufficient for historiography, confronted the materiality of events” (Enzo Traverso) → we are rather in the field of political theory, trying to study a typology of power c. Authoritarianism The notion of authoritarianism was developed in the '50s/'60s to define a sort of hybrid regime that is “in between”: → it's close to pluralistic democracy but also borrows totalitarian elements. → Authoritarian regimes are those which don't respect the fundamentals of democracy but can have some elements of democracy residual : remaining after most of something has gone → The concept of authoritarian regime is what we can call residual, it refers to all regimes which are neither democratic, nor totalitarian o its quite complicated because beyond the fact that they are not democracies, these regimes have little in common and the category is very diverse o Ex: it includes monarchies, military, communist and even clerical regimes. Main characteristics |1| Controlled political institutions The leaders of authoritarian regimes are not chosen by the people through free and competitive elections → those are abolished, and any form of organized political activity is prohibited. → Nonetheless, there may be a multiparty system and regular electoral consultations in given authoritarian regimes, but either the election doesn't concern the mandate or these elections are controlled and distorted by the leader → Ex: the election doesn't have an impact in a monarchy; Tunisian leader who had a lifetime mandate or the election is distorted by electoral fraud Ex: Ben Ali in Tunisia, Kabila. |2| “Limited pluralism” (Juan Linz, one of the main ≠ between authoritarianism and totalitarianism) → Groups with +/- autonomy and own legitimacy can participate to the functioning of the regime o Ex : army, church, business circle → There is pluralism in authoritarian regimes, but it is limited and controlled o the power authorizes them to intervene politically and delimits their prerogatives o but they cannot challenge the foundations of the regime → If those two conditions are met, they can defend their specific interests/points of view within the political system, and it leads to what is called “semi-opposition” o Ex: liberty granted to the Church under the Franco regime in Spain, or in some other military dictatorships in Latin America. The Church was vested with the tribunitian function: it became the spokes-institution for the dissatisfaction and the demands of the people 19  Q1 - Political sciences | Anna Sonnenschein |3| Weak mobilization and political ideologies → Authoritarian regimes have limited organizational networks to control the population: o they exist, but they are much more limited that in the frame of totalitarian regimes, and there is no mass participation. o For instance, JUAN LINZ says that authoritarianism works very well with passive obedience and apathetic individuals → Authoritarian regime encouraged the depoliticization of the population and the exercise of political activity is restricted to the elites. o Such characteristic can be explained by the fact authoritarian regimes are generally regimes/restorations of order, o which don't seek to transform the social structures/lifestyles/beliefs of the population. o Absence of total enrollment of the population o This absence of mobilization goes hand in hand with the unstructured ideology. As for LINZ, the consequences are that: → the authoritarian discourse is of poor quality and usually draws its references from general values of societies o Ex: nationalism, respect for traditions or even social justice; → authoritarianism very often uses coercion to prevent or to combat any protest held against the regime and its officials. o Some regimes even resort to violence on a very large scale (we will come back to the ≠ between violence on a very large scale and terror). The diversity of authoritarian regimes Apart from the fact that they are not democracies, these regimes have little in common and the category of authoritarian regimes is very diverse → A heterogeneous and negatively defined category How to make sense out of this diversity: we can define subtypes (Juan Linz), according to 2 criteria: → characteristics of “limited pluralism” → involvement of the population in the functioning of the regime Example of a typology of authoritarian regime: → Traditional authoritarian regimes → “Corporatists” authoritarian regimes → Mobilizing authoritarian regimes (post-democratic societies, born out of decolonization) → Post-totalitarian authoritarian regimes >> Typologies are used has a guide for navigating a much more complex reality than the models intended to reflect it (hybrid nature) 20  Q1 - Political sciences | Anna Sonnenschein Authoritarianism and the diffusion of the standards of liberal democracy: an illustration → 1987: Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali : lifetime presidency o election of the president + recognition of multi-partyism → 1989: only candidate, officially elected with 99.3% of the vote → 1994: only candidate, re-elected with 99.9% of the votes → 1999: two other candidates running, but Ben Ali is re-elected with 99.44% of the votes → 2004: three other candidates and Ben Ali receives 94.49% of the votes → 2009: Ben Ali has to “confront” three other candidates, “only” 89.62% of the votes Ruling party present everywhere, massive electoral fraud, control of the media (other candidates prohibited of publicising their manifesto) Staged as what has to appear as pluralistic control : legitimation and the importance of the norms of pluralistic electoral competition (internally : cannot rely only on force / externally) 2. Democracy a. Origins and definition Where does democracy come from? Democracy appeared in Greece in the 6th century BC → especially in the City of Athens: citizens would meet in the public square (the forum) and make decisions, especially the most important ones → Ex: declarations of war, ratification of laws etc. ANCIENT DEMOCRACY MODERN DEMOCRACY Restrictive definition → Exclude women, minors, slaves and Inclusive definition Citizenship foreigners → No one is excluded → only 10% of the population were citizens Representative democracy Direct democracy → people today do not govern directly; they Delegation → Not many citizens so they can all delegate their power to elected participate representatives Random drawing → The magistrates (for the public affairs) Designation of were selected randomly for 1 year Election the → Considered as the most equalitarian → Favours distinction between the representatives attribution of power governors and the governed → Provided an alteration between being governed and governing 21