totalitario

Totalitario is a term used to describe political systems, movements, or regimes that seek to mold almost every aspect of society and private life to fit a central state ideology. In political science, it denotes a regime in which authority is concentrated in a single party or leader and where dissent is not simply repressed but erased from public life through propaganda, coercion, and planned mobilization.

Typical features include: a dominant official ideology; a single mass party with a top leader; state control of media, education, and culture; organized paramilitary groups; a secret police; extensive censorship and surveillance; coercive mechanisms to enforce loyalty; ability to mobilize society through youth and worker organizations; and an economy that is centralized or heavily regulated to serve state objectives.

Distinct from authoritarianism, which concentrates power but seeks to preserve some private life spheres and pluralism, totalitarian regimes aim to regulate not only political life but also beliefs, values, and private behavior. Some scholars see totalitarianism as an analytical category for certain 20th-century regimes; others caution that no regime fully achieves total control.

Examples often cited include Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and the Soviet Union under Stalin, with other cases such as Maoist China or North Korea discussed in debates about the scope of totalitarian rule.

The term is used both descriptively and critically and remains a subject of scholarly debate.