Totalitarianism and Modern Democracy
Author: Ying-wen Tsai
Abstract / Chinese PDF Download
Following Hannah Arendt’s classic work on totalitarianism, the first part of thepaper gives an account of the formation of political nihilism and redemptive utopia inthe generation of the first world war and traces its origin to the predicament ofpolarized tention in the development of modern liberal democracy. On the basis ofthis account, this paper tries to argue that the novelty of totalitarianism lies in itsattempt at eliminating such a predicament of liberal democracy by means of totalcontrol and terrorism founded upon a comprehensive ideology. With regard to theinterpretation of totalitarianism, this paper proposes to revise Arendt’s thesis that theconcentration camps constitute the basic character of totalitarian regime. Concerningthis, the other parts of the paper argue that the totalitarian bureaucratic system shapedby one party dictatorship constitutes the political apparatus in terms of which thetotalitarian dictatorship totally eliminates the gap between civil society and the stateand constructs a monolithic social structure.