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The distinction between authoritarianism and totalitarianism was a crucial part of the Kirkpatrick Doctrine, which asserted that the United States could work with authoritarian nations with bad human rights records because they were more capable of fundamental reform and less dangerous than totalitarian nations.
In an authoritarian state citizens are subject to state authority in many aspects of their lives, including many that other political philosophies would see as matters of personal choice. Authoritarianism generally presumes to know Truth, with a capital "T", and has almost no tolerance of disagreement. It is characterised by moral and philosophical certainty coupled with a taste for the use of force by the State. These systems suppress "heretical" ideas. Totalitarian governments feel that the interests of the State are more important than anything else -- it is the "totality" of all that is worthwhile.
Typically, the leadership ( government) of an authoritarian regime is ruled by an elite group that uses repressive means to stay in power. However, unlike totalitarian regimes, there is no desire or ideological justification for the state to control all aspects of a person's life, and the state will generally ignore the actions of an individual unless it is perceived to be directly challenging the state. Totalitarian governments tend to be revolutionary, intent on changing the basic structure of society, while authoritarian ones tend to be conservative.
One controversial belief is that countries ruled by authoritarianism are more likely to be economically successful than democratic countries. Examples given to support this thesis are South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan, which were authoritarian during their period of growth. This notion of developmental authoritarianism is a central justification for the rule of the Communist Party of ChinaThe Communist Party of China ( Simplified Chinese: , Traditional Chinese: , Hanyu Pinyin: Zhongguo Gongchndng) is the ruling party of the People's Republic of China. The party was founded in 1921, and fought the Kuomintang during the Chinese Civil War. within the People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China PRC comprises most of the cultural, historic, and geographic area known as China. Since its founding in 1949, it has been led by the Communist Party of China (CPC). It is the world's most populous country, with a population. The primary difference between Authoritarian governments and absolute Monarchy is that the leaders' kin are not necessarily selected as successors.
Due to frequent association of a group of technocrats with a ruling authoritarian regime, there are often substantial incentives within such a society for the individual to develop technical and administrative expertise. The premium placed within such a society on that kind of expertise may mean that the society comes to have surplus of qualified specialists, and of of the biggest exports of such countries may One counter-argument is that there are many instances of authoritarian nations that have not encountered rapid growth, for example the PhilippinesThe Republic of the Philippines is an island nation consisting of an archipelago of 7,107 islands, lying in the tropical western Pacific Ocean about 100 kilometers southeast of mainland Asia. Spain (1521-1898) and the United States (1898-1946), colonized and IndonesiaThe Republic of Indonesia the world's largest archipelago, is located between the Southeast Asian peninsula and Australia, between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Indonesia borders Malaysia on the island of Borneo ( Kalimantan in Bahasa Indonesia), Papua N. In addition, critics of the thesis of developmental authoritarianism point out IndiaThe Republic of India is a large multicultural country in South Asia, with a population of over one billion. The Indian economy is the fourth largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, and is the world's second-fastest growing economy., which had impressive of social forces that forced a transition to democracy. In Singapore's case, justification was given to its strict social conduct laws as "a way to force civility onto a third-world country," (quote attributed to Lee Kuan YewHarry Lee Kuan Yew Order 1st Prime Minister Term of Office August 9, 1965 November 26, 1990 Succeeded by Goh Chok Tong Date of Birth September 16, 1923 Place of Birth Singapore Wife Kwa Geok Choo Occupation lawyer Political Party People's Action Party Dep, Singapore's First Prime MinisterAlternate meaning: Prime Minister (band #A prime minister is the leading member of the cabinet of the top level government in a parliamentary system of government of a country, alternatively #A prime minister is an official in a presidential system or sem and chief architect) which it was at the time of its separation from Malaysia. This issue is of more than academic interest as it influences the debate over the future of and policy toward, the People's Republic of China.
The notion that authoritarian government is ultimately superior to democracy was part of the idea of Asian values, although it diminished somewhat after the Asian financial crisis of 1998.
Another country considered authoritarian in this sense was Spain, under the government of Francisco Franco. Franco's Spain was far less developed than the democratic countries of Western Europe.
There are numerous politicians in the West who are attracted to Authoritarianism, provided they are to be the Authority.