Pre-Modernity, Totalitarianism and the Non-Banality of Evil : A Comparison of Germany, Spain, Sweden and France

This book provides a comparative and historical analysis of totalitarianism and considers why Spain became totalitarian during its inquisition but not France; and why Germany became totalitarian during the previous century, but not Sweden. The author pushes the concept of totalitarianism back into the pre-modern period and challenges Hannah Arendt's notion of the banality of evil. Instead, he presents an alternative framework that can explain why some states become totalitarian and why they induce people to commit evil acts. Steven Saxonberg is a professor in the Institute of European Studies, Faculty of Social Studies, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, and the Institute of Public Policy and Social Work, Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. He did research for this book while at the Centre for Social and Economic Strategies, Charles University in Prague Preface 6 Contents 8 Chapter 1: Introduction 9 Main Argument of the Book 12 Comparative Methodology 17 Defining Totalitarianism 20 Explaining Totalitarianism: The Role of State-Building 25 Evilness 30 Summary and Content of the Book 33 References 37 Chapter 2: Cases of Totalitarianism 42 Totalizing Ideology 42 Organization 45 Political Religion 49 Fear 51 Summary 55 References 55 Chapter 3: Explaining Evilness 58 Critique of Arendt 58 Ordinary and Banal 60 Duty Rather Than Ideology? 62 The Inability to Think 69 Critique of Milgram 72 Social-Psychological Approaches to Evilness 74 Culture and Killing 77 Summary 80 References 82 Chapter 4: France and the Non-Totalitarian Inquisition 85 The Development of France 86 The Emergence of the Inquisition in France 93 Deciding to Have an Inquisition 93 Setting up the Inquisition 97 Inquisition and Resistance 101 Anti-Semitism in Medieval France 109 Conclusion 113 References 114 Chapter 5: Spain: Pre-Modern Totalitarianism 118 Spanish Totalitarianism as a State-Building Process 118 Legitimizing Evilness 125 The Roots of Racial Anti-Semitism 127 Setting Up the Inquisition 134 Doing Evil for the Inquisition 141 Evil Acts 142 Reasons for Committing Evil Acts 146 Conclusion 151 References 155 Chapter 6: Sweden 158 Swedish Stability 160 Policy Legacy of Consensus and Compromise 165 Consensus and Democratization 165 Creating Consensus and Coopting the Term Folk 170 State-Building and the Incorporation of Peasants into the Democratic Process 172 Developing a Relatively Autonomous Bureaucracy 176 Creating a Professionalized Bureaucracy 177 The Relatively Autonomous Bureaucracy 179 Racism Swedish-Style 185 Conclusion 201 References 204 Chapter 7: Nazi Germany and Non-Banal Evilness 209 German State-Building 212 Bureaucracy and Legitimacy 221 Support for the Nazis 227 Nazi Voters and Members 231 Peasants 233 Associational Life 237 The Development of Anti-Semitism 239 Germany and the Non-Banality of Evil 248 The Development of the Holocaust 259 How Ordinary? 267 Conclusion 275 References 283 Chapter 8: The End? 290 References 298 Index 299 Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Introduction (Steven Saxonberg)....Pages 1-33 Cases of Totalitarianism (Steven Saxonberg)....Pages 35-50 Explaining Evilness (Steven Saxonberg)....Pages 51-77 France and the Non-Totalitarian Inquisition (Steven Saxonberg)....Pages 79-111 Spain: Pre-Modern Totalitarianism (Steven Saxonberg)....Pages 113-152 Sweden (Steven Saxonberg)....Pages 153-203 Nazi Germany and Non-Banal Evilness (Steven Saxonberg)....Pages 205-285 The End? (Steven Saxonberg)....Pages 287-295 Back Matter ....Pages 297-303