Totalitarism and Slovenia, or why the terminology used in foreign expert literature is inappropiate in case of Slovenia Cover Image

Totalitarizem in Slovenija ali zakaj za Slovenijo ni ustrezna terminologija, ki jo uporabljajo v tuji strokovni literaturi?
Totalitarism and Slovenia, or why the terminology used in foreign expert literature is inappropiate in case of Slovenia

Author(s): Aleš Gabrič
Subject(s): WW II and following years (1940 - 1949), Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Fascism, Nazism and WW II
Published by: Inštitut za novejšo zgodovino
Keywords: totalitarism;world war II;repression;occupation;violence;resistance;collaboration;Partisans; Slovenia;Yugoslavia;nazism;fascism;communism;Stalinism;terminology;

Summary/Abstract: Totalitarianism as a concept has come into use after 1923. At first it denoted the fascist movement in Italy, but later its meaning was extended to similar phenomena in other countries. Totality is supposed to describe the authorities not satisfied merely with controlling the political life in a country, but trying to penetrate all aspects of life and social subsystems, from economy to media, culture and sports, as well as interfering with the private realm, aiming to influence the way people think, make decisions, and act. The concept of totalitarianism came into scientific use after World War II, when Hannah Arendt published her work The Origins of Totalitarianism. In the following decades research under the influence of the Cold War took place, often focusing on comparing the Soviet Union under Stalin and after his death, in the time of de-Stalinisation. The question of which regimes could be described as totalitarian has been asked throughout the decades, and it once again became the subject of more attention in the expert discussions after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War in the 1990s.

  • Issue Year: 53/2013
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 32-47
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Slovenian