10662 Dictatorships in the 20th Century 1

Credits: 6 intermediate credits in Political Science

Prerequisites: none

Authors: Michael Herb, Kenneth Lieberthal, Benyamin Neuberger, Amira Gelblum, Oded Eran

Objectives: To familiarize students with the ideology of various non-democratic regimes, how their ideology relates to political activity, and the elements of their power; To develop theoretical tools for typifying regimes and their characteristics.

The course presents a historical comparative analysis of five non-democratic regimes. Each volume examines one regime, discussing how it came into power, its organizational structure, the ideology that guided it, state-society relations, state-individual relations, the role of the ruling party, and the role of the leader.

Topics: A right-wing authoritarian and totalitarian regime: Italian Fascism: Ideology and Politics, by Benyamin Neuberger (The Open University, 1983, Hebrew); A right-wing totalitarian regime: Nazi Germany: One People, One Reich, One Leader, by Amira Gelblum (The Open University, 2005, Hebrew); A left-wing totalitarian regime: The Soviet Union Under Stalin: A Communist Totalitarian Regime, by Oded Eran (The Open University, 2004, Hebrew); From a left-wing totalitarian regime to a post-totalitarian authoritarian regime: Translation of Governing China: From Revolution Through Reform, by Kenneth Lieberthal (Norton, 2003); A populist and a military regime: Argentina (not yet taught); A conservative authoritarian regime: Translation of All in the Family: Absolutism, Revolution, and Democratic Prospects in the Middle Eastern Monarchies, by Michael Herb (SUNY, 1999).

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1There is some overlap in the content of this and other courses. For details, see Overlapping Courses.