The Axis of Totalitarianism Threatens a Disastrous World Order
by Ali Omar Forozish
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01.14.2025 at 06:00am
The Axis of Totalitarianism Threatens a Disastrous World Order Image
Benito Mussolini, the then-dictator of Italy, coined the term totalitarianism in the early 1920s to describe his regime. It has become synonymous with a form of government wielding absolute control over society, seeking to regulate all aspects of public and private life. Totalitarian states concentrate power in a single entity and suppress dissent. These states maintain control through propaganda, surveillance, and state-sanctioned violence.
The term “axis of totalitarianism” captures the growing challenge posed by a collection of totalitarian states — Iran, China, North Korea, and Russia — whose alignment disrupts the democratic world order. Though not a formal alliance, these countries actively work to revise the US-led international order. Their strategic convergence extends beyond mere pronouncements, with coordinated actions demonstrating a concerted effort to erode the foundations of democratic systems. The axis further expands its reach by incorporating non-state actors — a myriad of terrorist groups, including various radical Islamic groups and Iran’s Axis of Resistance. Despite ideological and operational differences, these entities share a common antipathy towards democratic values and the Western order.
The axis doesn’t just criticize Western “decadence” — they actively propose an alternative global order. But beneath the surface lies a vision not of freedom, but of oppression. These regimes clamp down on individual liberties, ruthlessly crush dissent, and prioritize the rule of a select few elites over the rule of law. If the axis prevails, the world order fractures into competing spheres of influence, minority rights get trampled, and a far more chaotic and totalitarian order takes root.
https://smallwarsjournal.com/2025/01/14/the-axis-of-totalitarianism-threatens-a-disastrous-world-order/
