Authoritarian States (Part 4 of 13) - The problem with democracy - IB History

Modern authoritarianism emerged at a time when modern democratic govenment was beginning to become the norm. But not everyone welcomed democracy. This film aims to explain why.
Firstly, there was the belief that the common man (and certainly woman) was just intellectually unable to comprehend the complex matters of state and in were no position to make the informed choices democracy requires. The second problem with democracy was the perceived threat to elite culture and western civilisation. It was argued that the lower orders in society lacked the refinement, education and ‘breeding’ to fully appreciate the achievements of high culture. But perhaps the ruling elite’s biggest problem with democracy was egalitarianism. How will a minority elite that enjoys enormous economic and social privileges manage to hold onto these privileges if the majority does not want them to? In a democracy it is the majority that counts. If most people are not wealthy, won’t these people vote for policies that take the wealth from the rich minority and give it to the poor majority? For the elites under threat after World War 1, modern authoritarianism was a solution to this problem.
The fourth in the series of short films introducing the subject of modern authoritarian states for students of the IB Diploma.