Editing Totalitarianism (section)

===Religious totalitarianism===
====Islamic====
[[File:Flag of the Taliban.svg|thumb|[[Flag of Afghanistan|Flag of the Taliban]]]]
The [[Taliban]] is a totalitarian [[Sunni Islam]]ist militant group and political movement in [[Afghanistan]] that emerged in the aftermath of the [[Soviet–Afghan War]] and the end of the Cold War. It governed most of Afghanistan from [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|1996 to 2001]] and [[2021 Taliban offensive|returned to power in 2021]], controlling the entirety of Afghanistan. Features of its totalitarian governance include the imposition of [[Pashtunwali]] culture of the majority [[Pashtuns|Pashtun]] ethnic group as religious law, the exclusion of minorities and non-Taliban members from the government, and extensive [[Treatment of women by the Taliban|violations of women's rights]].<ref>*{{cite journal |last1=Sakhi |first1=Nilofar |title=The Taliban Takeover in Afghanistan and Security Paradox |journal=Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs |date=December 2022 |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=383–401 |doi=10.1177/23477970221130882 |s2cid=253945821 |quote=Afghanistan is now controlled by a militant group that operates out of a totalitarian ideology.}}
* {{cite web |last1=Madadi |first1=Sayed |title=Dysfunctional centralization and growing fragility under Taliban rule |url=https://www.mei.edu/publications/dysfunctional-centralization-and-growing-fragility-under-taliban-rule |website=[[Middle East Institute]] |access-date=28 November 2022 |date=6 September 2022 |quote=In other words, the centralized political and governance institutions of the former republic were unaccountable enough that they now comfortably accommodate the totalitarian objectives of the Taliban without giving the people any chance to resist peacefully.}}
* {{cite web |last1=Sadr |first1=Omar |title=Afghanistan's Public Intellectuals Fail to Denounce the Taliban |url=https://www.fairobserver.com/region/central_south_asia/omar-sadr-afghanistan-taliban-rule-totalitarianism-human-rights-news-2441/ |website=Fair Observer |access-date=28 November 2022 |date=23 March 2022 |quote=The Taliban government currently installed in Afghanistan is not simply another dictatorship. By all standards, it is a totalitarian regime.}}
* {{cite web |title=Dismantlement of the Taliban regime is the only way forward for Afghanistan |url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/southasiasource/dismantlement-of-the-taliban-regime-is-the-only-way-forward-for-afghanistan/ |website=[[Atlantic Council]] |access-date=28 November 2022 |date=8 September 2022 |quote=As with any other ideological movement, the Taliban's Islamic government is transformative and totalitarian in nature.}}
* {{cite web |last1=Akbari |first1=Farkhondeh |title=The Risks Facing Hazaras in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan |url=https://extremism.gwu.edu/risks-facing-hazaras-taliban-ruled-afghanistan |website=[[George Washington University]] |access-date=28 November 2022 |date=7 March 2022 |quote=In the Taliban's totalitarian Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, there is no meaningful political inclusivity or representation for Hazaras at any level. |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114164914/https://extremism.gwu.edu/risks-facing-hazaras-taliban-ruled-afghanistan |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[Islamic State]] is a [[Salafi jihadism|Salafi-Jihadist]] militant group that was established in 2006 by [[Abu Omar al-Baghdadi]] during the [[Iraqi insurgency (2003–2011)|Iraqi insurgency]], under the name "[[Islamic State of Iraq]]". Under the leadership of [[Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi]], the organization later changed its name to the "Islamic State of Iraq and Levant" in 2013. The group espouses a totalitarian ideology that is a [[Islamic fundamentalism|fundamentalist]] hybrid of [[Jihadism|Global Jihadism]], [[Wahhabism]], and [[Qutbism]]. Following its [[Northern Iraq offensive (June 2014)|territorial expansion in 2014]], the group renamed itself as the "Islamic State" and declared itself as a [[caliphate]]{{efn|Caliphate claim of "Islamic State" group is disputed and declared as illegal by traditional [[Ulema|Islamic scholarship]].<ref>[[Yusuf al-Qaradawi]] stated: "[The] declaration issued by the Islamic State is void under [[sharia]] and has dangerous consequences for the Sunnis in Iraq and for the revolt in Syria", adding that the title of caliph can "only be given by the entire Muslim nation", not by a single group. – {{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10948480/Islamic-State-leader-Abu-Bakr-al-Baghdadi-addresses-Muslims-in-Mosul.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10948480/Islamic-State-leader-Abu-Bakr-al-Baghdadi-addresses-Muslims-in-Mosul.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi addresses Muslims in Mosul|last=Strange|first=Hannah|date=5 July 2014|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|access-date=6 July 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite web|url=http://www.jihadica.com/caliph-incognito/|title=Caliph Incognito: The Ridicule of Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi|last=Bunzel|first=Cole|website=www.jihadica.com|date=27 November 2019 |language=en-US|access-date=2 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102184946/http://www.jihadica.com/caliph-incognito/|archive-date=2 January 2020|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2016/11/01/what-a-caliphate-really-is-and-how-the-islamic-state-is-not-one/|title=What a caliphate really is—and how the Islamic State is not one|last=Hamid|first=Shadi|date=1 November 2016|website=Brookings|language=en-US|access-date=5 February 2020|archive-date=1 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200401231616/https://www.brookings.edu/blog/markaz/2016/11/01/what-a-caliphate-really-is-and-how-the-islamic-state-is-not-one/|url-status=live}}</ref>}} that sought domination over the [[Muslim world]] and established what has been described as a "''political-religious totalitarian regime''". The [[quasi-state]] held [[Territory of the Islamic State|significant territory]] in Iraq and Syria during the course of the [[Third Iraq War]] and the [[Syrian civil war]] from 2013 to 2019 under the dictatorship of its first Caliph, [[Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi]], who imposed a strict interpretation of Sharia law.<ref>{{cite web |last=Winter |first=Charlie |date=27 March 2016 |title=Totalitarianism 101: The Islamic State's Offline Propaganda Strategy |work=Lawfare |url=https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/totalitarianism-101-islamic-states-offline-propaganda-strategy}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Filipec |first=Ondrej |title=The Islamic State From Terrorism to Totalitarian Insurgency |publisher=Routledge |year=2020 |isbn=9780367457631}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Peter |first=Bernholz |date=February 2019 |chapter=Supreme Values, Totalitarianism, and Terrorism |title=The Oxford Handbook of Public Choice |volume=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Haslett |first=Allison |date=2021 |title=The Islamic State: A Political-Religious Totalitarian Regime. |url=https://libjournals.mtsu.edu/index.php/scientia/article/download/2075/1251/5752 |journal=Scientia et Humanitas: A Journal of Student Research |publisher=[[Middle Tennessee State University]] |quote="Islamic State embraces the most violent, extreme traits of Jihadi-Salafism. the State merged religious dogma and state control together to create a ''political-religious totalitarian regime'' that was not bound by physical borders"}}</ref>

===== Criticism of the classification of Islamism as totalitarianism =====
[[Enzo Traverso]], a critic of totalitarianism as a theoretical concept of historical and political sciences, is also critical of the usage of it in relation to [[Islamism|Islamist]] movements like [[Islamic State|ISIS]] and the [[Taliban]] and their state formations: according to Traverso, such notion contradicts the very theoretical concept of totalitarianism. Systems which are commonly described as totalitarian, fascism and communism, sought to create a [[utopia]]n "New Man" and as a result, they set their projects toward the future, not to revive old forms of [[Absolutism (European history)|absolutism]], as noted by [[Tzvetan Todorov]]. "The [[reactionary modernism]] of [[Islamic terrorism]], on the contrary, employs modern technologies in order to return to the original purity of a mythical Islam. If it has utopian tendencies, they look to the past rather than the future." More to it, totalitarianism has been applied to secular movements which have been described as irrational "political religions" which seek to abolish traditional religions, liturgies and symbols and replace them with their own liturgies and symbols, while [[Islamic fundamentalism]], on the contrary, is a politicized religion and a reaction to secularization and modernisation. Besides that, as a form of violence, [[terrorism]] is usually described as antipodal to state violence; while fascism was a reaction to democracy, Islamism arose in authoritarian, but weak states. "Speaking of a "theocratic" totalitarianism makes this concept even more flexible and ambiguous than ever, once again confirming its essential function: not critically interpreting history and the world, but rather fighting an enemy". Traverso writes that the usage of the term began after [[9/11]] by Western propaganda, which previously used it against the other enemies while maintaining the geopolitical interests of the West. He notes that the Islamic state which most resembles the concept of totalitarianism, [[Saudi Arabia]], is an ally of the West and as a result, it cannot be considered a part of the "[[Axis of Evil]]", and for that reason, as he believes, Saudi Arabia is rarely described as "totalitarian", unlike [[Iran]].<ref name="trav2"/>

====Christian====
{{See also|National Catholicism|Christian fascism|Clerical fascism}}
[[File:RETRATO DEL GRAL. FRANCISCO FRANCO BAHAMONDE (adjusted levels).jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait of [[Francisco Franco]]]]
[[Francoist Spain]] (1936–1975), under the dictator [[Francisco Franco]], had been commonly characterized as totalitarian until 1964, when [[Juan Linz]] challenged this characterization and instead described Francoism as "authoritarian" because of its "limited degree of political pluralism" caused by the struggle between 'Francoist families' (Falangists, Carlists, etc.) within the sole legal party [[FET y de las JONS]] and the ''[[Movimiento Nacional]]'' and by other such features as, according to Linz, lack of 'totalitarian' ideology, as Franco relied on [[National Catholicism]] and traditionalism. Such revision caused a major debate, some critics of Linz felt that his concept may be a form of acquittal of Francoism and did not concern its early phase (often called "[[First Francoism]]"). Later debates focused on whether the regime could be described as 'fascist' rather than whether it was totalitarian; some historians stressed the traits of a military dictatorship, while the others emphasized the Fascist component, calling the regime a [[Para-fascism|para-fascist]] or 'fascistized' dictatorship. While [[Enrique Moradiellos]] notes that "it is now increasingly rare to define Francoism as a truly fascist and totalitarian regime", although he writes that the debates on Francoism haven't finished yet,<ref name="franco"/> [[Ismael Saz]] notes that "it has also begun to be recognised that" Francoism underwent a "totalitarian or quasi-totalitarian, fascist or quasi-fascist" phase.<ref name="saz">{{Cite book |last=Saz |first=Ismael |author-link=Ismael Saz |title=Fascismo y Franquismo |publisher=Universitat de València |year=2004 |isbn=978-84-370-5910-5 |location=València |language=es}}</ref> The historians who continue to criticize Linz and describe the regime as totalitarian usually limit such characterization to ten to twenty years of the "[[First Francoism]] ."<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D32PCwAAQBAJ | isbn=978-1-317-29422-1 | title=European Dictatorships 1918-1945 | date=12 February 2016 | publisher=Routledge }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JzAKEAAAQBAJ | isbn=978-84-8102-695-5 | title=La construcción de la dictadura franquista en Cantabria | date=20 November 2020 | publisher=Ed. Universidad de Cantabria }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=angGEAAAQBAJ | isbn=978-84-95886-89-7 | title=El Franquismo y la apropiación del pasado: El uso de la historia, de la arqueología y de la historia del arte para la legitimación de la dictadura | date=2 July 2016 | publisher=Editorial Pablo Iglesias }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F5MXzFIHWmMC | isbn=978-84-259-1008-1 | title=Estado y derecho en el franquismo: El nacionalsindicalismo. F. J. Conde y Luis Legaz Lacambra | date=1996 | publisher=Centro de Estudios Constitucionales }}</ref>
[[File:Pla y Deniel marzo 1942.jpg|thumb|[[Francoist Spain|Francoist]] minister [[Esteban Bilbao]] (left) and Catholic archbishop [[Enrique Pla y Deniel]] (center) doing the Roman salute in [[Toledo Cathedral]], Spain, March 1942]]
Linz wrote that "the heteronomous control of the ideological content of Catholic thought by a universal church and specifically by the Pope is one of the most serious obstacles to the creation of a truly totalitarian system..."<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8cYk_ABfMJIC | isbn=978-1-55587-890-0 | title=Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes | date=2000 | publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers }}</ref> This argument is also debated: "The frequent and saturated references to Francoist Catholic humanism... coming from Christian theology, could hardly conceal the fact that the individual was only understood as a citizen to the extent of his adherence to the Catholic, hierarchical and economically privatist community that the military uprising had saved";<ref name="fr3">{{cite book |last1=Contreras |first1=Guillermo Portilla |title=El derecho penal bajo la dictadura franquista: Bases ideológicas y protagonistas |date=2022 |publisher=Editorial Dykinson, S.L. |location=[[Madrid]] |url=https://ruja.ujaen.es/server/api/core/bitstreams/1ff15109-4ea2-4949-967c-2183fc8000c8/content |access-date=17 January 2025 |language=es}}{{page needed|date=March 2025}}</ref> "Catholic values that permeated the conservative ideological substratum... were precisely what was wielded by the Francoist Spanish political doctrine of the late thirties and early forties to justify the need for the constitution of a totalitarian State at the service and expansion of the Catholic religion."<ref name="fr4">{{cite journal | url=https://revistaderecho.posgrado.unam.mx/index.php/rpd/article/view/170/330 | doi=10.22201/ppd.26831783e.2021.14.170 | title=La voluntad totalitaria del Franquismo | date=2021 | last1=González Prieto | first1=Luis Aurelio | journal=Revista del Posgrado en Derecho de la Unam | issue=14 | pages=44 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

Franco was portrayed as a fervent Catholic and a staunch defender of [[Catholic Church in Spain|Catholicism]], the declared [[state religion]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Viñas |first=Ángel |url=https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/libro?codigo=511206 |title=En el combate por la historia: la República, la guerra civil, el franquismo |year=2012 |publisher=Pasado y Presente |isbn=978-8493914394 |language=es |access-date=2020-09-15 |archive-date=2020-10-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201005174834/https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/libro?codigo=511206 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Civil marriage]]s that had taken place in the Republic were declared null and void unless they had been validated by the Church, along with divorces. Divorce, [[Birth control|contraception]] and abortions were forbidden.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Franco edicts |url=http://search.boe.es/datos/imagenes/BOE/1954/198/A04862.tif |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080626065607/http://search.boe.es/datos/imagenes/BOE/1954/198/A04862.tif |archive-date=26 June 2008 |access-date=16 December 2005}}</ref> According to historian [[Stanley G. Payne]], an opponent of describing Francoism as a totalitarian system, Franco had more day-to-day power than [[Adolf Hitler]] or [[Joseph Stalin]] possessed at the respective heights of their power. Payne noted that Hitler and Stalin at least maintained rubber-stamp parliaments, while Franco dispensed with even that formality in the early years of his rule. According to Payne, the lack of even a rubber-stamp parliament made Franco's government "the most purely arbitrary in the world."<ref name="Payne1987">{{cite book |last1=Payne |first1=Stanley G. |title=The Franco Regime, 1936–1975 |year=1987 |publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press |isbn=978-0-299-11070-3 |pages=323–324 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mgDWLYcTYIAC&pg=PA323}}</ref> However, from 1959 to 1974 the "[[Spanish Miracle]]" took place under the leadership of [[technocrats]], many of whom were members of [[Opus Dei and politics#Opus Dei members in Franco's government|Opus Dei]] and a new generation of politicians that replaced the old [[Falangist]] guard.<ref>Jensen, Geoffrey. "Franco: Soldier, Commander, Dictator". Washington D.C.: Potomac Books, Inc., 2005. p. 110-111.</ref> Reforms were implemented in the 1950s and Spain abandoned [[autarky]], reassigning economic authority from the isolationist [[Falangism|Falangist movement]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/timreuter/2014/05/19/before-chinas-transformation-there-was-the-spanish-miracle/#f5da6133b3e1 |title=Before China's Transformation, There Was The 'Spanish Miracle' |work=Forbes Magazine |access-date=22 August 2017 |date=19 May 2014 |first=Tim |last=Reuter |archive-date=24 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191224061157/https://www.forbes.com/sites/timreuter/2014/05/19/before-chinas-transformation-there-was-the-spanish-miracle/#f5da6133b3e1 |url-status=live }}</ref> This led to massive economic growth that lasted until the mid-1970s, known as the "[[Spanish miracle]]". This is comparable to [[De-Stalinization]] in the Soviet Union in the 1950s, where [[Francoist Spain]] changed from being openly totalitarian to an authoritarian dictatorship with a certain degree of [[economic freedom]].<ref>[[#Payne2000|Payne (2000)]], p. 645</ref>{{full citation needed|date=February 2025}}{{failed verification|date=January 2025}}