Totalitarian Political System Research Articles

Elite conflicts in Chinese politics: A comparative note

Politics in less competitive political systems often focuses on relationslai'ps among the few leading political figures. This focus of attention follows from the characteristically highly centralized decisionmaking process, the top-heavy elite structure, and the lack of input from mass opinion wit:h regard to the direction of the political system. As a consequence, political scientists interested in studying authoritarian or totalitarian political systems may be tempted to direct their attention to the background, the career, and the political orientation and style of top-ranking leaders as a short-cut to understanding and predicting political developments in those systems. In the China field, a great many studies 'have been made of the important political leaders of mainland China. This number increased after the years of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Various models have been developed 'to describe and analyze relationships among Man Tse-tung, Chou En-lai, Liu Shao-ch'i, TSng Hsiao-p'ing, Lin Piao, Chiang Ch'ing, Wang Hung-wSn, and other political leaders? For example, the red vs. expert model attempts to picture

Expansionist and Isolationist Tendencies of Totalitarian Political Systems: A Theoretical Note

A NUMBER OF EXPLANATIONS have been offered for the expansionist tendencies of large totalitarian powers. Sigmund Neumann, writing of the Third Reich, sees . . unlimited expansion . . . [as] . . . the fourth characteristic of modern totalitarian rule ... Dictatorial regimes are governments at war, originating in war, aiming at war, thriving on war ... [They] ... find in international adventure a safety-valve against internal upheaval. The dictatorship becomes the exploiter of continuous conflict.' This safetyvalve theory of totalitarian expansion has found currency in a variety of applications. There are also other views, emphasizing economic and demographic interests; strategic and military interests; the psychopathology of totalitarian leaders, such as megalomania and paranoia, and psychological maladjustment of the nation as a whole. Nor does this exhaust the list: exuberance of nationalism, power-drive or vagaries of the nation-state system, the presence of aggressive or insecure elites in society and maladjustment of the capitalist system have been singled out as sources of imperialism. The ideologies of totalitarian powers are another source of explanations for these nations' aggressions. The Nazis expounded the mission of the superior race; the Communists, that of world revolution. These explanations have a common limitation; they are concerned with expansion only. They ignore the twin tendency which complements totalitarian expansionism, its equally strong impulse towards isolation. Totalitarian isolationism-that is, its protective Iron Curtain shielding the regime from external influence-is as striking as totalitarian expansion. In the course of this discussion, a set of factors is suggested which can explain both seemingly contradictory tendencies. The two impulses are seen as necessary protective devices without which

Expansionist and Isolationist Tendencies of Totalitarian Political Systems: A Theoretical Note

Expansionist and Isolationist Tendencies of Totalitarian Political Systems: A Theoretical Note