I'm giving a talk about technology (specifically the Internet) in various governments where freedoms are strongly constrained. I'm a technologist, and I have little experience with words used to described the governments of places like Cuba, China, Iran, N. Korea, Libya, etc.
I've learned from reading new articles that these governments are variously described as "totalitarian," "authoritarian," "autocractic," "despotic," "dictatorial," and so forth, and I've inferred that these are all essentially equivalent. Of course I'm anxious at the prospect of using them as synonyms if there are well-agreed-upon differences that I should be aware of. My web searches haven't really helped in my quest to answer this question and so I thought I'd ask you folks if you feel there are strong differences.
In particular, are there any terms in my list above you feel have strong differential meanings?
Note: A search here on English.SE shows two related questions both closed without an answer, so I'm hoping that my question is clear (and polite) enough to avoid this fate.
Best Answer
These words are related but might not refer to the same exact thing. For example if you check the Wikipedia entry for Authoritarianism you will find this entry:
so immediately you see the distinction between authoritarianism vs. totalitarianism. If you now go to the Wikipedia entry for Totalitarianism you will find this entry:
We see here that Totalitarianism is characterized by Authoritarianism AND ideology.
If we now check Despotism vs. Dictatorship we find that for Despotism is
the key word here is "single entity" which can actually be an individual OR a group. Under dictatorship we find this entry:
also we find the distinction between dictatorships and totalitarian rule (with reference to authoritarianism:
For autocracy we find this entry:
a distinction is made between autocratic rule vs. miliatry dictatorships with some reference also to totalitarian rule:
I hope this helps! :)