COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DEMOCRACY AND

TOTALITARIANISM

SUBMITTED BY
ASLAM KHAN
ROLL NO 58299

SUBMITTED TO
Ma’am Raheela

DEPARTMENT OF LAW
HAZARA UNIVERSITY MANSEHRA
2021

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................4

Democracy...................................................................................................................................4

Characteristics..............................................................................................................................5

Majority rule................................................................................................................................5

Elections.......................................................................................................................................5

The pillars of democracy..............................................................................................................5

Law and justice............................................................................................................................6

Rights and freedom......................................................................................................................6

Diversity.......................................................................................................................................6

Decentralization...........................................................................................................................6

Advantages...................................................................................................................................7

Disadvantages..............................................................................................................................7

Totalitarianism.............................................................................................................................8

Characteristics..............................................................................................................................8

Creation of an ideology................................................................................................................8

Attainment of goals......................................................................................................................9

Control citizens............................................................................................................................9

Intolerance....................................................................................................................................9

Planned economy.........................................................................................................................9

Advantages.................................................................................................................................10

Disadvantages............................................................................................................................10

DISCUSSION...............................................................................................................................10

CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................11

References.....................................................................................................................................13

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INTRODUCTION

When a country is to be defined, it is done so by looking at its merits and achievements like the
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and its annual growth, amount of foreign investments made, per
capita income, national income, happiness index, the effectiveness of laws and legislation
adopted by the country, etc. A country can achieve its maximum capacity on the basis of two
things, one, the attitude of the citizens, and two, its governance. It would not be wrong to say that
the former depends a lot on the latter. We can safely deduce that the key to the high level of
achievements of a country can be primarily based on the kind of governance that the country
adopts.

There are different forms of governance throughout the world. However, broadly, they can be
categorized into 4 major types-  monarchy, democracy, totalitarianism, and dictatorship. Let us
understand the brief functioning of each with examples.

Let us assume that a group of friends is playing gully cricket. Now, this can take place in various
ways. In the first case, only one boy brings the bat and keeps on batting even after getting out
since, it is his bat, so he has the power. Further, he also lets his best friend do the same, and when
he does not want to play, he takes the bat and goes away. This boy can be termed as a ‘boss-
bully’. In the next case, all the friends elect one person as their captain who ensures that
everyone gets equal opportunities to play and plays fair. If the captain tries to play foul, the team
members decide not to make him the captain the next time. In another case, there is a coach who
is supposed to guide the boys but instead just declares what each of the boys is supposed to do.
For eg, A should only bat, B should be the wicket-keeper, etc. No choices are given to the boys.
Also, none of the boys gets a chance to express whether they wanted him as the coach or not.

If we compare these with the forms of government, the boss-bully will be the dictator, the second
scenario can be compared to democracy, the third scenario describes totalitarianism. If the
playground is owned by one of the boys, then the kind of power he will have will be similar to
that of a monarchy.

Democracy

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‘’Government of the people, by the people and for the people’’

Does this ring in the word ‘democracy’? Democracy is aptly described by this slogan. 

This form of government is currently the most popular form of government. As stated in the
example, this form of government allows its citizens to elect representatives who will be
assuming power and making all the decisions for the country. This form of government works on
the principle that the citizens should have the power and the right to decide who can make
decisions that would affect their lives. This is the main crux of democracy. The leaders are
chosen on the basis of majority, that is whoever gets the maximum number of votes wins the
election.

Characteristics

Majority rule

All the decisions taken are in accordance with the majority. Starting from electing a party into
power to the government deciding policies and laws for the country, everything happens with a
majority rule. This further ensures that since the majority of the people agree on a particular
thing, it will be beneficial for the people at large.

Elections

The main element of democratic governance is the way in which the elections are conducted. All
the adult citizens of the country are allowed to vote and choose a party which according to them
should form the government. This characteristic gives every eligible citizen the right to vote and
choose the representative who will represent them. Thus, elections in a democratic are ideally in
a free and fair manner. Such elections take place at regular intervals.

Another important aspect of the election under a democratic system is that there is no restriction
as to how many parties can contest for election. There is no upper limit cap. This ensures that a
lot of parties contest elections giving citizens a number of options to choose from.

After forming the government, the democratic mechanism keeps its functioning in check by
establishing opposition. Opposition parties question the decisions of the government at every
step thus, making them accountable for their decisions.

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The pillars of democracy

Democracy rests on three important pillars- the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary. All
three are independent of each other. This helps them maintain transparency. The core function of
the legislative is to make laws that will govern the nation. The executive has to implement the
laws made by the legislature. The judiciary is expected to interpret the law and uphold it.
Further, it is kept independent of the government so as to make the functioning of the judiciary
transparent. The judiciary also has the power to punish anyone who violates the law. The
judiciary can further declare any laws made by the legislation or any act of the executive done to
implement the laws as unconstitutional if it is not in accordance with the Constitution. 

Law and justice

Everyone is subjected to the same law and the same justice delivery system. There are no biases
or preferences given to anyone. All the citizens are equal before the law and treated equally.
Though there might be some exceptions, these exceptions are made on reasonable grounds. Law
is considered to be supreme. No one is above the law.

Rights and freedom

The citizens enjoy various rights. These rights vary from country to country. One of the most
widely accepted rights is the Right to Freedom of Speech and Expression. Under this right, the
citizens can voice their opinion even if that is contrary to that of the government. This gives birth
to free media and press. Free media and the press have the power to throw light on the
functioning of the government and its effectiveness. This helps the citizens to analyze if the
government is working properly or not. 

Diversity

Democracy respects all religions equally and does not promote or propagate any one religion.
This allows diversity to bloom. A democratic country will often have a multilingual population
thriving in its territory. A democratic country will, therefore, give its citizens the Right to
Religion, that is, they can practice and profess any religion. 

Decentralization

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The powers of the government are not concentrated on one hand, rather it is distributed to
various branches and sub-branches of the government. The power vests in a decentralized
manner among the officials. In a decentralized system, smaller governing bodies are formed who
have the power to take political decisions at the local level for their jurisdiction. Political
decentralization seeks to address societal issues by handing the citizens increased power through
an elected representative government. Depending on the country, political decentralization may
pertain to constitutional or statutory reforms, the creation of local political unions or new
political parties, and so on. Moreover, in the case that a part of the legislative body becomes
corrupted, the decentralized system can easily throw it out.

Advantages

Too much power in the hands of one or few leads to misuse of power or overburden of
responsibilities. Democracy prevents these. With its decentralized mechanism, it creates
authorities at every level who have some powers to make decisions. This makes work efficient
and also creates less burden on the top authorities. The work of the lower authorities is reviewed
periodically by the higher authorities. 

Moreover, the top authorities taking decisions for the country do not know what people at
different levels need. These local authorities have direct contact with the people of their
jurisdiction. They also understand the local, political, social, and economical needs and aspects
of the area. The local bodies can, therefore, represent the interests of the people at various levels
and help the centre make better decisions. 

Democracy has a good ‘checks and balances’ mechanism. The citizens of the country are the
ones who mark the government and decide if they are working in accordance with the needs of
the society and how effective are the decisions and the policies that they come out with. Such a
mechanism is facilitated by the freedom of the press, yet another feature of democracy. If the
citizens dislike the work of the government, they have the option to not vote for that party again.
This very fear of not being in power again makes the government work to the best of their
capabilities. This, in turn, helps the citizens and the country grow.

Disadvantages

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Like every coin has two sides, the very advantage of a democratic government has a
disadvantage too. Distribution of power is an advantage that the citizens of a democratically
functioning nation enjoy. The same distribution of power has a flip side as well.

When powers are divided, all the people having powers are included in the decision-making
process. This might delay the process since everyone will have a different perspective and each
of them will like the inclusion of their perspective in the decisions that are taken. In order to do
so, they might keep on opposing the proposed decisions until they feel that their perspective is
also considered. While this is good in a way as it ensures that a wholesome decision is taken, it
delays the decision-making process that might take a toll when it comes to making urgent
decisions. 

Areas that are developing and need to be urgently monitored or legally backed up, delay in
decision making, and coming up with viable solutions can be harmful and bad for society in
general.

Totalitarianism

‘’All within the state, none outside the state, none against the state’’.

Does this ring in the word ‘Totalitarianism’? Totalitarianism is aptly described by this slogan. 

This form of government controls all aspects of the personal and private life of its citizens. The
totalitarian state pursues some special goal, such as industrialization, and in the bit of attaining
that goal, it excludes all others. All resources are directed toward its attainment, regardless of the
cost. Whatever might further the goal is supported; whatever might hinder the attainment of the
goal, be it the something as crucial as human development as social beings, is rejected. This
obsession gives birth to an ideology that explains everything in terms of the goal, rationalizing
all obstacles that may arise and all forces that may contend with the state. Any dissent is branded
evil, and internal political differences are not permitted because the pursuit of the goal is the only
ideological foundation for the totalitarian state. Large-scale organized violence becomes
permissible and sometimes necessary under totalitarian rule, justified by the overriding
commitment to the state ideology and pursuit of the state’s goal.

Characteristics

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Creation of an ideology

The totalitarian regime creates an ideology and makes its citizens accept it, either willingly or
forcefully. This ideology makes the nation achieve its goal. But this ideology is rigid and has no
flexibility. The ideology does not consider the life of its citizens and is of an intruding nature.
The ideology outlines the life of its citizens and often restricts them from doing anything outside
the scope of the designated outline. The ideology further attempts to establish discipline but little
does it consider that the discipline that it seeks to establish intervenes with their private and
personal interests.

Attainment of goals

Totalitarianism is driven by the attainment of goals that are set by such a government. If the aim
is to boost the economy, all the policies will be framed to achieve this. But, this generally
neglects the interests of the citizens and supersedes the same. Though the goal is attained, it is
attained at the cost of loss of interest of its citizens.

Control citizens

When citizens find it difficult to comply with the totalitarian ideology, they start to rebel against
it. At this point, terror is used to controlling them. Acts of violence and forms of terror speed up
across the nation and the fear so instilled in the minds of the citizens coerce them to comply with
the ideology. Controlling citizens is important for the totalitarian regime to achieve its set
objective.

Intolerance

Totalitarian regimes do not tolerate dissenting or even alternative views. Those who promote
such views are usually dealt with very harshly. There is little independent media in a totalitarian
state; every TV channel, radio station, and newspaper is merely a state mouthpiece used to
further indoctrinate society. There are no elections since opposing views are illegal. Such
regimes also control all means of communication. Emails, letters, and phone calls, for example,
are closely monitored so that opposition can be wiped out before it spreads.

Planned economy

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An unregulated economy is a danger to totalitarian power, so every aspect of the state economy
is planned. Farmers are told how much of and which crop to plant, while private enterprise if it
exists at all, is very closely regulated to suit the needs of the state. The goal is constant economic
growth (or at least stability) so that the public is kept content and the regime’s ruling measures
are sustained. This impacts the economy positively since everything is planned and the resources
are utilized accordingly. 

Advantages

Totalitarianism envisages a goal and makes all possible attempts to accomplish it. This keeps
their economy growing and the nation progressing. These governments take up small
problematic sectors and try to fix the issues. This helps them resolve all the discrepancies
efficiently and effectively. When the goal is determined, all the policies and rules that the
government comes up with deals with the attainment of such goals. Thus, swift and quick
progress is witnessed. 

This regime also does not allow opposite views to thrive. This ensures that there are no hurdles
in the accomplishment of the set goals and there is also no delay in doing so. This not only
develops the country but also increases the standard of living of the citizens.

Disadvantages

Like mentioned earlier, the advantages can also have a disadvantage. The very regime of setting
up goals and achieving it has a negative side. While setting up targets and achieving them makes
the country grow, it leaves its citizens with no privacy.

In order to achieve the set goals, the totalitarian government adopts measures and policies that
control the private and personal life of the citizens. They do not give any freedom of choice to
the citizens and if they try to voice their opinions against the government, they are suppressed by
terror. Such governments also do not give any kind of freedom to its press and media by
monitoring all its content. If the government finds any content that is inappropriate (against
them), they are not allowed to run that content over the television.

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Citizens in these countries do not have any choice and all their private and personal decisions are
subject to the hindrances of the government.

DISCUSSION

In Europe the Great Depression caused many citizens to lose faith in their democratic
governments. In many countries, people turned to extremist political groups. Some turned to
communism; others turned to fascism. People began looking for new leaders to help them solve
their problems and rebuild their countries. Sometimes these new leaders became dictators, or
rulers with complete power and control over their countries. Benito Mussolini in Italy, Adolf
Hitler in Germany(Called theirs Nazism), and Francisco Franco in Spain were three such Fascist
dictators. However, the Fascist governments of Mussolini and Hitler drew their support from
industrialists and the military, while Spanish Fascists under Franco drew support from the
military and the wealthy landowners. After World War I, Benito Mussolini of Italy organized the
Fascist movement. He derived the word Fascist from the ancient Roman symbol of authority, the
fasces—a bundle of rods surrounding an ax. This symbol represented a strong central
government uniting its entire people in one goal. Fascists favored dictatorship and nationalism;
they opposed democracy and communism.

CONCLUSION

Every form of governance is unique to its own self. Each one of them has their own sets of
glories and pitfalls. The point to be accounted for is, the weightage and the extent of the pros and
cons of each form so as to understand which is a better form of government. It is crucial to know
which form of government is better.

To start with, let us come to terms with the fact that none of the two discussed above is perfect,
and adopting either will have a certain kind of negative impact. So now, if the pros and cons of
both the forms are considered, the choice between freedom of the citizens along with non-
hindrance in their private life and growth of the country along with its development has to be
considered. The question now stands, which one ways more- privacy and freedom of citizens or
growth and development of the country?

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While the time-taking decision mechanism is not that big an issue, hindrance in the private life of
its citizens is. On one hand, a democratic form of distribution of powers can ensure effective
decisions and on the other hand, the policy of adopting a certain target and achieving it can
ensure better and faster progress of the country.

If we analyze the characteristics of both the forms, we can see that a democracy with a little
change can deliver the privacy and freedom of citizens along with the growth and development
of the country. For this, it has to adopt two of the characteristics of the totalitarian regime, that
is- the attainment of a goal and a planned economy as described in this article. But, this adoption
should not be rigid, it should have a more liberal approach. In this way, the citizens will also be
happy and the country will also progress.

A liberal approach means that the government should have due respect for its citizens’ privacy
and should not dictate the terms of their decisions in order to achieve its goal. Goals can be
achieved through effective legislation. Democracy is capable of producing such effective
legislation with its feature of decentralization of powers. The local bodies can identify the
problems persisting in their jurisdiction and come up with solutions accordingly. Such solutions
can be monitored and altered by the Central government from time to time. Further, if the top
authorities feel that the issue needs more attention, it can step in and regulate. 

In this way, citizens are also happy and the country all climbs the ladder of progress. Thus, the
suggestion would be to adopt democracy along with these certain features of totalitarianism to
make the system of governance efficient and effective.

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References

 https://www.marketing91.com/characteristics-of-democracy/

 https://classroom.synonym.com/listing-characteristics-totalitarian-government-
14893.html

 https://greengarageblog.org/16-significant-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-
democracy

 https://www.britannica.com/topic/totalitarianism

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