The totalitarian paradigm after the end of communism : towards a theoretical reassessment
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Bibliographic Information
The totalitarian paradigm after the end of communism : towards a theoretical reassessment
（Poznań studies in the philosophy of the sciences and the humanities, v. 65）
Rodopi, 1998
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Includes bibliographical references
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Concepts of totalitarianism have undergone an academic revival in recent years, particularly since the breakdown of communist systems in Europe in 1989-91: the totalitarian paradigm, so it seems to many scholars today, had been discarded prematurely in the heat of the Cold War. The demise of communism as a social system is, however, not only an important cause of the recurring attractiveness of the totalitarian paradigm, but provides at the same time new evidence and, correspondingly, new problems of explanation for all approaches in communist studies and totalitarianism theory in particular.
This book contains articles by philosophers, social scientists and historians who reassess the validity of the totalitarian approach in the light of the recent historical developments in Eastern Europe. A first group of authors focus on the analytical usefulness and explanatory power of classic concepts of totalitarianism after having observed the failed reforms of the Gorbachev-era and the collapse of Europe's communist systems in 1989-91. In these contributions the totalitarian paradigm is contrasted with other approaches with respect to cognitive power as well as normative implications. In the second group of contributions the focus is on the reassessment of methodological and theoretical problems of the classic concepts of totalitarianism. The authors attempt to reinterpret the classic concepts so as to meet the objections which have been put forward against those concepts during the last decades.
The study thereby traces some of the intellectual roots of the totalitarian paradigm that precede the outbreak of the Cold War, such as the work of Sigmund Neumann and Franz Borkenau. It also focuses on the most famous authors in the field: Hannah Arendt and Carl Joachim Friedrich. In addition it discusses theorists of totalitarianism like Juan Linz, whose contributions to totalitarianism theory have too often been overlooked.
Table of Contents
Preface. Achim SIEGEL: Introduction. The Changing Fortunes of the Totalitarian Paradigm in Communist Studies. ON RECENT CONTROVERSIES OVER THE CONCEPT OF TOTALITARIANISM. Klaus von BEYME: The Concept of Totalitarianism - A Reassessment after the End of Communist Rule. Klaus MUELLER: East European Studies, Neo-Totalitarianism and Social Science Theory. Leszek NOWAK: A Conception that is Supposed to Correspond to the Totalitarian Approach to Realsocialism. Ernst NOLTE: The Three Versions of the Theory of Totalitarianism and the Significance of the Historical-Genetic Version. Eckhard JESSE: The Two Major Instances of Totalitarianism: Observations on the Interconnection between Soviet Communism and National Socialism. CLASSIC CONCEPTS OF TOTALITARIANISM. REASSESSMENT AND REINTERPRETATION. Johann P. ARNASON: Totalitarianism and Modernity: Franz Borkenau's Totalitarian Enemy as a Source of Sociological Theorizing on Totalitarianism. Alfons SOELLNER: Sigmund Neumann's Permanent Revolution: A Forgotten Classic of Comparative Research into Modern Dictatorships. Friedrich POHLMANN: The Seeds of Destruction in Totalitarian Systems. An Interpretation of the Unity of Hannah Arendt's Political Philosophy. Werner J. PATZELT: Reality Construction under Totalitarianism: An Ethnomethodological Elaboration of Martin Draht's Concept of Totalitarianism. Achim SIEGEL: Carl Joachim Friedrich's Concept of Totalitarian Dictatorship. A Reinterpretation. Mark R. THOMPSON: Neither Totalitarian nor Authoritarian: Post-Totalitarianism in Eastern Europe.
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