Ideal Citizen In A Totalitarian Government

Required Resources

Read/review the following resources for this activity:

Textbook: Chapter 6, 10

Magstadt, T. M. (2017). Understanding politics: Ideas, institutions, and issues. Australia: Cengage Learning.

Lesson

Instructions

Aristotle defined tyranny as an illegitimate form of government by one individual that tightly controlled every part of life and government. Adolf Hitler is the most notorious tyrant. Using a totalitarian society from the past or present, discuss how the state and its leader attempt to impede citizens from exercising their rights. In your discussion, explain some components of an “ideal citizen,” consequences of voter apathy, and ways the state controls the citizen.

Writing Requirements (APA format)

Length: 1.5-2 pages (not including title page or references page)

1-inch margins

Double spaced

12-point Times New Roman font

Title page

References page (minimum of 2 scholarly sources)

Grading

This activity will be graded based on the essay rubric.

Course Outcomes (CO): 1

Due Date: By 11:59 p.m. MT on Sunday

Rubric

Week 5 Assignment: Essay – Ideal Citizen in a Totalitarian Government

Week 5 Assignment: Essay – Ideal Citizen in a Totalitarian Government

Criteria  RatingsPts

This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Actual case study of a country.

20.0 pts

Uses a historical or contemporary example of a totalitarian country

16.0 pts

There is a totalitarian country, but it is not real.

12.0 pts

There is a country, but it is not totalitarian.

0.0 pts

There is no country mentioned.

20.0 pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Control by a totalitarian leader

20.0 pts

Describes the three ways, violence, propaganda, and scapegoating, that leaders use to keep control in the country.

16.0 pts

Only two of the tactics of totalitarian leaders are described.

12.0 pts

Only one of the tactics of totalitarian leaders are described.

0.0 pts

How a totalitarian leaders keeps control is not addressed.

20.0 pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Citizens in the country.

20.0 pts

States and describes two ways of stopping a totalitarian regime by using political socialization, civil disobedience, resist propaganda. Discusses voter apathy.

16.0 pts

States and describes one way of stopping a totalitarian regime by using political socialization, civil disobedience, resist propaganda. Discusses voter apathy.

12.0 pts

States and describes one way of stopping a totalitarian regime by using political socialization, civil disobedience, resist propaganda. Does not discuss voter apathy.

0.0 pts

Does not address the concepts.

20.0 pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Scholarly resources

10.0 pts

Uses both the book and, at least, one outside scholarly source.

8.0 pts

Uses only the book or a scholarly source.

6.0 pts

Uses only a scholarly source and the source is not scholarly.

0.0 pts

Does not use the book or scholarly source.

10.0 pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome APA

5.0 pts

All sources are properly cited and referenced according to APA standards.

4.0 pts

Sources are either properly cited or referenced, missing one of those elements.

3.0 pts

The citation and/or reference are incorrect.

0.0 pts

No APA format was used.

5.0 pts

This criterion is linked to a Learning Outcome Writing

5.0 pts

Presents information using clear and concise language in an organized manner (minimal errors in English grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation).

4.0 pts

Presents information using understandable language but is somewhat disorganized (some errors in English grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation).

3.0 pts

Presents information using understandable language but is very disorganized (many errors in English grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation).

0.0 pts

Presents information that is not clear, logical, professional or organized to the point that the reader has difficulty understanding the message (numerous errors in English grammar, spelling, syntax, and/or punctuation).

5.0 pts

Total Points: 80.0

Chapter 6. The Totalitarian Model: A False Utopia

Learning Objectives

· 1Define totalitarianism.

· 2Describe the role of ideology in totalitarian states.

· 3Identify the three most infamous totalitarian rulers and how they earned that reputation.

· 4Describe the three developmental stages in the life of a totalitarian state.

· 5Determine the value of studying totalitarianism even though the world’s worst examples of totalitarian rule have passed into the pages of history.

A new and more malignant form of tyranny called totalitarianism reared its ugly head in the twentieth century. The term itself denotes complete domination of a society and its members by tyrannical rulers and imposed beliefs. The totalitarian obsession with control extends beyond the public realm into the private lives of citizens.

Imagine living in a world in which politics is forbidden and everything is political—including work, education, religion, sports, social organizations, and even the family. Neighbors spy on neighbors and children are encouraged to report “disloyal” parents. “Enemies of the people” are exterminated.

Who are these “enemies“? Defined in terms of whole categories or groups within society, they typically encompass hundreds of thousands and even millions of people who are “objectively” counterrevolutionary—for example, Jews and Gypsies (Romany) in Nazi Germany, the bourgeoisie (middle class) and kulaks (rich farmers) in Soviet Russia, and so on. By contrast, authoritarian governments typically seek to maintain political power (rather than to transform society) and more narrowly define political enemies as individuals (not groups) actively engaged in opposing the existing state.

Why study totalitarianism now that the Soviet Union no longer exists? First, communism is not the only possible form of totalitarian state. The examples of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy are reminders that totalitarianism is not a product of one ideology, regime, or ruler. Second, totalitarianism is an integral part of contemporary history. Many who suffered directly at the hands of totalitarian dictators or lost loved ones in Hitler’s Holocaust, Stalin’s Reign of Terror, Mao’s horrific purges, or other more recent instances of totalitarian brutality are still living. The physical and emotional scars of the victims remain even after the tyrants are long gone. Third, totalitarian states demonstrate the risks of idealism gone awry. Based on a millenarian vision of social progress and perfection that cannot be pursued without resort to barbaric measures (and cannot be achieved even then), they all have failed miserably as experiments in utopian nation-building. Finally, as we will see, totalitarianism remains a possibility wherever there is great poverty, injustice, and therefore the potential for violence and turmoil—recent examples include Iran, North Korea, and Burma (Myanmar).

One of the lessons of 9/11 is that extremism remains a fact of political life in the contemporary world. It can take many malignant forms. Terrorism is one; totalitarianism is another. This chapter demonstrates clearly that totalitarianism and terror go hand in hand.

The Essence of Totalitarianism

Violence is at the core of every totalitarian state—at its worst, it assumes the form of indiscriminate mass terror and genocide aimed at whole groups, categories, or classes of people who are labeled enemies, counterrevolutionaries, spies, or saboteurs. Mass mobilization is carried out through a highly regimented and centralized one-party system in the name of an official ideology that functions as a kind of state religion. The state employs a propaganda and censorship apparatus far more sophisticated and effective than that typically found in authoritarian states. As the late sociologist William Kornhauser wrote in a highly acclaimed study, “Totalitarianism is limited only by the need to keep large numbers of people in a state of constant activity controlled by the elite.” *

Totalitarian