Uploaded May 2024 | Updated September 2026, 26 minutes ago
When trying to explain the rule of historical authoritarian regimes there is a tendency to focus on social control, the fear of citizens in the face of the coercive police state or the power of propaganda to brainwash the masses. After all, why would anyone willingly and rationally support a dictatorship? The active, explicit consent of a least some of the governed can be achieved through engaging them politically, through co-opting them into positions of power, through creating social mobility and by appealing to their ideological ambitions. But consent can also be provided indirectly, implicitly by giving enough of the rest of the people reason to let the authoritarian state continue to rule. The old adage of ‘bread and circuses’ explains how keeping the population well fed and entertained is central to consent. But also exploiting people’s tendency to want to conform can be a useful mechanism when combined with social control through the media and education.
Another in the series of short films introducing the subject of modern authoritarian states for students of the IB Diploma.
When trying to explain the rule of historical authoritarian regimes there is a tendency to focus on social control, the fear of citizens in the face of the coercive police state or the power of propaganda to brainwash the masses. After all, why would anyone willingly and rationally support a dictatorship? The active, explicit consent of a least some of the governed can be achieved through engaging them politically, through co-opting them into positions of power, through creating social mobility and by appealing to their ideological ambitions. But consent can also be provided indirectly, implicitly by giving enough of the rest of the people reason to let the authoritarian state continue to rule. The old adage of ‘bread and circuses’ explains how keeping the population well fed and entertained is central to consent. But also exploiting people’s tendency to want to conform can be a useful mechanism when combined with social control through the media and education.
Another in the series of short films introducing the subject of modern authoritarian states for students of the IB Diploma.
