Authoritarian States (Part 2 of 13) - What is modern authoritarianism? - IB History

Firstly, modern authoritarian states were/are consciously modern and did not and could not rely upon traditional forms of authority to justify their rule. Secondly is the importance of ideology. In the absence of either inherited or electoral legitimacy, rule had to be justified ideologically. The new authoritarianism proposed an alternative ideological basis to liberalism, whether in fascist or communist form, and this ideology provided the legitimacy for the regime. The third distinctly modern feature of 20th century authoritarianism is the centralisation and industrialisation of the mechanisms of state control. Modern authoritarianism’s ambition to rule over an industrial, urban, and connected citizenship, required an increasingly sophisticated, integrated form of layered formal and informal social control, using, for example, all the most sophisticated of modern communication technology, to spread the ideological message of the regime.
The second in the series of short films introducing the subject of modern authoritarian states for students of the IB Diploma.