Conditions for the emergence of authoritarian states
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Question
What is an authoritarian state?
Answer
A state where power is concentrated in one leader or small group, opposition is restricted, and the people have little real political choice.
Question
What does 'totalitarian' mean compared to 'authoritarian'?
Answer
Totalitarian is an extreme form aiming to control ALL of life (ideas, economy, culture), not just politics.
Question
Name the four official conditions for the emergence of authoritarian states.
Answer
Economic crisis, social division, impact of war, and weakness of the existing political system (hook: SEWS).
Question
What does the memory hook SEWS stand for?
Answer
Social division, Economic crisis, War impact, Weak political system.
Question
Give a concrete economic-crisis example from Germany.
Answer
The 1923 hyperinflation and the post-1929 Depression, with over 6 million unemployed by 1932.
Question
How did the impact of war help authoritarians emerge?
Answer
Defeat, humiliation, economic dislocation and angry demobilised soldiers created violent, embittered support, as in Germany, Italy and Russia.
Question
What is 'social division' as a condition?
Answer
Class conflict, ethnic or religious tension, and elite fear of communist revolution that split society and pushed frightened elites toward authoritarians.
Question
How did the weakness of Weimar's political system help Hitler?
Answer
Proportional representation produced unstable coalitions and Article 48 emergency rule, making the democracy look paralysed and a strong leader attractive.
Question
Why did Italian elites turn to Mussolini?
Answer
Post-war strikes and factory occupations, a 'mutilated victory' grievance, and a weak liberal state made him look like the cure for chaos and communism.
Question
How should a Paper 2 essay on conditions be structured?
Answer
Compare two states from different regions theme by theme (by condition), weaving evidence together, then judge which conditions mattered most.
Question
Compare the war condition in Russia vs Germany.
Answer
Russia: WWI military and economic collapse plus civil war (1918-21). Germany: WWI defeat, Versailles humiliation and embittered Freikorps veterans. Both bred radical movements.
Question
Give a valid cross-region Paper 2 pairing and why it works.
Answer
Hitler's Germany (Europe) + Mao's China (Asia): two states from two different IB regions, as the question demands.
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Emergence of authoritarian states
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