Unit3 - Rejection of Liberalism

Authoritarianism & Rejections of Liberalism Slideshow summary

Shortfalls of Liberalism

  • Order

    • Without many rules, it’s possible for society to become chaotic

  • Belonging

    • There’s not much of a chance to have a common purpose and be part of the bigger picture

    • Free markets promotes competition therefore creating class division and inequality

    • Fascism focuses on belonging rather than order

  • Freedom

    • Liberalism isn’t necessarily freedom

    • We can see this through the free market as it focuses more on the market and wealth rather than the people

Definitions

  • Authoritarianism - vests authority in an elite group that may or may not rule in the interests of the people

    • Ex) Dictatorships, Monarchies, Oligarchies, Juntas

    • Oligarchies - form of government in which political power rests with a small elite segment of society, ex)often by powerful families

    • Juntas - political power resides with the military leadership

    • Dictatorships - Type of government where one leader or one political group holds all the power and stays in power by using illiberal methods to ensure their position

  • Totalitarianism - Type of government that seeks complete control over both the public and private lives of its citizens 

  • One Party State - System where only one party forms the government and there is no opposition

Techniques of Dictatorship - Vision for what the county should be

  • Scapegoating - when blame is unfairly put on a individual/group for someone else’s problems, mistakes, or bad events 

    • Directing popular discontent

    • Making people hate group than directing their discontent toward the government and blaming them for the suffering of the whole nation

    • Ex)Hitler and the Jewish population

  • Controlled Participation 

    • Deciding who participates in the nation

    • Holding fake elections to make citizens feel as if they chosen the dictator, but often, there’s just one name on the ballot

  • Fear and Terror

    • Controlling citizens through fear

    • Use of secret police and work camps

  • Indoctrination & Propaganda

    • Indoctrination - brainwashing through the education system

    • Importance of youth

    • Propaganda - psychological manipulation of ideas to promote your views and ideals

The Russian Revolution(1917)

  • Overall

    • Leads to end of Tsars(Russian monarchy) and beginning of the Soviet Union

    • Beginning of communism

    • Opens the doors for people like Lenin and Stalin

  • Driving factors

    • People are generally unhappy

    • 1905 Revolution and Bloody Sunday

      • The 1905 Revolution began after “Bloody Sunday,” when peaceful protesters marched to the Winter Palace and were shot by the tsar’s soldiers while asking for better rights and working conditions. This violent event destroyed people’s trust in the tsar and sparked strikes, protests, and uprisings across Russia. Although the revolution didn’t overthrow the monarchy, it forced the tsar to create the Duma, showing the growing weakness of his rule

    • Bolsheviks gained more power(political party led by Lenin)

    • Inflation and poor economy - government printing more money for war

    • WW1

      • Russia is poorly prepared(behind in industrialization) and no threat to Germans

      • People are hungry as they’re unable to get food supplies from Ottoman Empire

      • Heavy losses in battle

    • Influence of Rasputin over the imperial family

  • Imperial Family

    • Tsar Nicholas II - king during this time

    • Due to his son being a hemophiliac, Tsarina became reliant on Rasputin(monk) who believed he could cure her son

    • Rasputin’s influence increases

    • People didn’t like Rasputin and many had set out to kill him

    • Tsar Nicholas II became abdicated, then followed by the massacre of the imperial family

    • Placement of the provisional government after the February Revolution

    • In October, this government would be overthrown by the Bolsheviks in a coup d'état led by Vladimir Lenin

  • Significance on how it represents rejection of liberalism

    • Rejects classical liberalism

    • Upset the established monarchy order in Europe

    • Big shock to the ruling classes

    • No history of democracy meant that many societies were unprepared for the rapid changes brought about by these revolutionary ideas.