Totalitarian temptation

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The totalitarian temptation is a phrase used in social science and political science to refer to a tendency of some states with democratic governments to revert into a totalitarian government.

According to the theory of totalitarian temptation, the freedom granted by democracy may sometimes be felt by some members of society to be excessive; people may feel that the society has devolved into anarchy, an absence of order. This feeling prompts a response toward a more authoritarian government, eventually leading to the totalitarian state.

The most commonly cited example of the totalitarian temptation is Germany: the Weimar Republic which was replaced with the Third Reich. Some have applied the totalitarian temptation to Russia under Vladimir Putin, though this is a controversial view.

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