9 - Totalitarianism and the Survival of Democracy

Summary

The totalitarianism both of fascism and of communism had existed before 1929. Although fascism and communism differed in origin, they shared many common features: the undisputed power of the state, rejection of democracy and pluralism, particularistic nationalism. The differences between the totalitarianism of right and left were less significant than the fact that they both assaulted democracy and liberalism, the prevailing orientations of postwar national and international affairs. This chapter explains what implications such a trend toward totalitarianism would have for international affairs. During the first half of the 1930s the democracies were thus confronted with an unprecedented challenge to their legitimacy. It cannot be denied that the United States was now becoming more centralized and bureaucratized and that in that process traditional conceptions of democracy, liberalism, and free enterprise were being significantly redefined. American foreign affairs during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration reflected isolationism.