Final Review Notes Essays

Submitted By mhwood
Words: 5362
Pages: 22

China 1
Three Types of Non-Democratic Regimes
Linz, Juan: “Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes.” (1975)
Totalitarian
Sultanistic
Authoritarian
What they have in common?
All non-democratic
What else?
Not that much…
Totalitarian Regimes
Power monopoly
Power concentrated in hands of individuals or small group
Ruler(s) not accountable to any kind of larger constituency (be this geographically confined constituencies or a larger party)
Rulers cannot be dislodged from power by institutionalized means
Strong Ideology
Basis of legitimacy
Provides meaning, sense of historical purpose, interpretation of social reality
Goal: “remake” society/mankind
Mass mobilization
Active mobilization for citizen participation
Passive obedience and apathy = undesirable
Vehicle of mobilization: single mass party and closely affiliated organizations
Other characteristics
Political violence = widespread and systematic. (the regime recognizes its importance however it is not a key characteristic necessarily like the others)
E.g. USSR, esp. under Stalin.
Ideology: Marxism-Leninism
Power monopoly:
Power concentrated in hands of one or very few members of the Communist Party
Mobilization
CP key to mass mobilization
Society supposed to actively participate in building communism
Sultanistic Regimes
Tyrannical, arbitrary rule by individual and close followers
Power monopoly
See Totalitarianism
No ideology, little effort of legitimation
Mobilization: no organized participation
Other characteristics:
Pursues private, not collective goals
E.g. personal wealth of ruler
Often: arbitrary use of power and violence
E.g. Dominican Republic under Trujillo (1930-61)
Ideology: none
Power monopoly
Power concentrated in Trujillo’s hands
Key posts filled by family members and associates
Country = private domain of leader
Mobilization
No mobilization
Isolation, lack of education, apathy, passive submission = necessary for regime stability
Authoritarian Regimes
Leader, or small group exercises power within ill-defined but predictable limits (i.e. lacks arbitrariness of Sultanism)
No power monopoly! But: limited political pluralism, i.e.
Power is not fully concentrated
Dispersed among some political, economic, and social groups with some degree of autonomy
But: pluralism is limited, i.e. groups not fully unconstrained
No elaborate guiding ideology; if any = symbolic
No extensive or intensive mobilization
No systematic inclusion of the masses
NOTE: significant variation between different authoritarian regimes
E.g. Spain under Franco (1939-75)
Ideology:
Early days; quasi-Fascism
Later, no clear ideology or effort to remake society
Limited pluralism
E.g. Catholic Church controls education system
E.g. Cabinet members have some autonomy
Mobilization
Weak party; govt uses party, not vide versa
Apathy = undesirable

Key Differences * * Sultanistic | Authoritarian | Totalitarian | Power monopoly | Limited pluralism | Power monopoly | No mobilization | No mobilization | Mass mobilization | No ideology | No or limited ideology | Strong ideology |
The End of the Last Dynasty
1912: Qing Dynasty falls
Begins to crumble in mid-19th century in face of domestic rebellion and foreign challenges
Violent struggles continued for four decades
Key issues:
Struggle for peasant livelihood
Struggle for national sovereignty
Struggle for Power
Struggles play out in competition between nationalists and communists
Communist Party:
Leader: Mao Zedong
Nationalists supported by urbanites and land owners
Communists seek land redistribution; also have major military undertones (red army)
1924-1927: Nationalists and Communists allied
1927: Nationalists break political alliance; massacre; new civil war
1937: Japanese invasion
Mao offers to unite with nationalists against Japan
Nationalists reluctant
Communists win political popularity because they are willing to take on the invaders
During course of