What does a totalitarian country consists of?

I'm writing a novel right now, and the country where my main protagonists live is under totalitarian rule. Can you guys give me some tips/pointers on how a tyrannical government works?

I've read Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, but the only things I found out about those kind of rulers are they usually censor everything, forces the people to answer to their will, and that they "help" people make their own decisions because it's for the "greater good". What else?

Anyways, thank you so much in advance!

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Okay, I'll read Animal Farm! And thank you for your help

Features of a totalitarian state:

-mass ideology (often expressed through propaganda)
-(often) dictatorship
-single party state (ie. vote for us or vote for us, get arrested if you join any other party)
-control of arms
-police state
-central control of the economy

Least, that's what I learnt for history class. Basically, everything is controlled by the state- nothing is outside state control. Whether it's communist or fascist or something else, I don't know, and it doesn't have to have all of the above. Purges and genocide are also sometimes linked, but they just sort of go with it, they're not necessarily a feature of totalitarianism.

Shepherd wrote:Also, I would explore communism and socialism as means by which to express the traits you've mentioned.

I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure that socialism, by definition, is not totalitarian. Communism is a totalitarian form of socialism. Socialism can exist in democratic form (look at many countries in Europe). In these cases the states control important industries (oil, mining, electricity) but are elected democratically and are typically libertarian leaning when it comes to social policy. Communism tends to control all means of production and is authoritarian socially.

You might also be interested to know that George Orwell was a self-proclaimed socialist.

Ideology has very little to do with totalitarianism. There have been totalitarian communist states (left wing and authoritarian) and totalitarian fascist states (right wing and authoritarian) and even religious totalitarian states. It seems that whenever a state goes down the totalitarian route, ideology ceases to matter and they all look the same.

I'd suggest studying Burma/Myanmar as a chilling example of a brutally totalitarian state.

Keep in mind that a lot of totalitarian states rise out of defeated, miserable countries that were often dicked around with by foreign powers (i.e., WWI and the Treaty of Versailles ruined Germany, imperialism messed up Burma). A strong, politically healthy nation does not suddenly descend into a dictatorship overnight.

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But how would researching socialism, which is not a totalitarian system (or indeed a form of government in the first place), help a poster who wants to know what a tyrannical government is like? I'm not trying to be rude or have a political debate. I'm genuinely confused as to what you're trying to say. If you're using it as an example about a philosophy that can easily be corrupted, any philosophy can be corrupted to serve a nasty end.

The way I parsed the original poster's statement (though of course only she can confirm what she was asking for) was that she was asking for examples beyond 1984 and Animal Farm, not that she was using them as the basis for her fictional government.

...if anyting, communism isn't a form of government so much as a political philosophy, the same as fascism. Since the OP is asking for help creating a fictional government for a fictional world which presumably has differing political philosophies than ours, I don't see what's the point in researching communism specfically when I'd think it be more helpful to research totalitarian/authoritarian governments worldwide.

I won't deny that there isn't a range of authoritarian governments, with totalitarianism as the most extreme example. They have little to do with political philosophy and more to do with degrees of control over the populace.

The the OP: If you found 1984 and Animal Farm helpful, you might want to take a look at the book traditionally considered to be the counterpoint to 1984, Brave New World. Although it's not quite what you're looking for (no real world government resembles the Brave New World one), it's something different from the usual dystopian future fare; might offer you some food for thought. I recommend the nonfiction book "Finding George Orwell in Burma" (well, its title is something like that), which is about Burma and how similar the situation there is to the world of 1984.

I don't think questioning the validity of my original suggestion is going to be helpful for the OP.

I was trying to help, but clearly you have a problem with the way I was going about it?

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Err, wow, that's a bit extreme a move.

But whatever. I get my share of political arguments at political blogs, so I'd rather not carry that here.

Okay, I'll admit that I consider myself a democratic socialist. I stand firmly against totalitarianism of all kinds. I argue frequently with my parents who grew up in Communist China and see nothing wrong with that government's policies. So yes, it did hit a senstive spot to see socialism conflated with communism conflated with totalitarianism.

Totalitarianism has an almost inconceivable variety number of ways in which it dominates those unfortunate enough to become entangled within it's tendrils.

Aside from the obligatory and superficial aspects of totality such as central control of the economy and propaganda, it has much more sinister and manipulative tools which it uses to control the people.

Totalitarianism, as you said, suppresses free thinking and rebellion. However, it also systematically exploits the qualities of human nature are vulnerable to utilisation by the party, such as war patriotism and our susceptibility to let fear into our hearts and distort our perceptions of the world (example of the is the anti-Semitism in 1984 shown against Emmanuel Goldstein).

There is also the beneficial aspect of a permanent state of war, which stagnates or corrupts technological advancement and halts the progression of consciousness that comes with innovation.

Also, the USSR and other infamous totalitarian regimes kept the price of alcohol very low, keeping the populace satisfied and docile.

Just remember to consider the ways in which your government might go about trying to ensnare the protagonist's mind.