POL SCI 4 Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Inverted Totalitarianism, Guided Democracy, Totalitarianism
Document Summary
Managed democracy and the specter of inverted totalitarianism. There are tendencies in our system that are opposed to the principles of constitutional democracies, which are totalizing and obsessed with control, expansion, superiority and supremacy. Nazi/ fascist regimes aims to capture state power and gain control over the economy vs. inverted totalitarianism is only in part a state-centered phenomenon. Today change success change (vs. in the old days change displaced traditions), with the effect of undercutting consolidation. Change as a matter for political determination by those who could be held accountable. Change as a major element in capitalism. Suggestion: american democracy has never been truly consolidated, key elements remain unrealized or vulnerable. Capitalism hailed as perfection of decentralized power. Thesis: certain tendencies in our society point in a direction away from self government, the rule of law, egalitarianism, and thoughtful public discussion, and toward what i have called managed democracy, the smiley face of inverted totalitarianism .