Taliban Rule is Not Authoritarian but Despotic Totalitarianism

Taliban Rule is Not Authoritarian but Despotic Totalitarianism

Four years after returning to power, the Taliban regime has become a model of totalitarian rule, using the state as an instrument of total control, promoting a radical ideological agenda, and centralizing authority around a singular leader with a cult of personality. The regime pushes for a utopian society in which women are stripped of their agency, political violence is glorified, modern education is discouraged, and cultural expression is sup…

Four years of Taliban rule: Totalitarianism behind the mask of religion and ethnicity

This article seeks, with a critical approach, to analyze the ideological, ethnic, and religious nature of the Taliban. Drawing on the concepts of totalitarian systems, ethnic hegemony, and the conflict between the Taliban’s interpretation of religion and modern rights-based structures, it examines both the internal and external dimensions of this political-military project. The article concludes by offering several solutions for confronting this…