Totalitarismus a posttotalitarismus v Čechách
Totalitarianism and Post-Totalitarianism in the Czech Republic

Summary/Abstract: This article traces the changes in interpretations of the concept of totalitarianism in various ideological contexts since the concept emerged in the 1920s. The authors argue that if one discounts claims of a purely ideological nature, only two periods in twentieth-century Czech history were truly totalitarian: the ‘Protectorate’ (1939–45) and the first few years of Communist rule, that is, from 1948 to 1953. Concerning the post-Stalinist period, the authors suggest that the concept of post-totalitarianism proposed by Juan Linz should be applied. This would make it possible, on the one hand, to distinguish between the goals that the system claimed to be putting into practice, and the reality prevailing in society. It would thus describe, for example, the changing importance of ideology and mass mobilization; on the other hand, the model offers a differentiated terminology for the early, mature, and, ultimately, ‘frozen’ stages of post-totalitarianism during the period of ‘normalization’.

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