I couldn't help but wonder how applicable Hannah Arendt's theories of the causes of the rise of totalitarianism in Germany and Russia are to later totalitarian regimes in places like South America and China. They seemed fairly specific to Nazi Germany and the USSR. Certain aspects would apply to all, I'm sure, but her analysis of the attitudes of the elites, for instance, towards Nazism and Communism does not--based on what I know of totalitarian regimes in Latin America--really seem as though it would apply as well.

I also have to wonder about her description of the attitude of the masses towards the totalitarian governments. She describes their level of loyalty as being “expected only from the completely isolated human being who, without any other social ties to family, friends, comrades, or even mere acquaintances, derives his sense of having a place in the world only from his belonging to a movement, his membership in the party” (324). As I understand it, Arendt argues that the social relationships people typically had with other human beings is replaced within totalitarian regimes by a relationship with the state, which allows individuals to find meaning and purpose solely in their relationship with the state. I just refuse to accept that the domination of the inner spaces of people living within totalitarian regimes is as complete as she implies it is for the general population, despite the eradication of intellectuals. When she says that propaganda is aimed at those who do not reside within totalitarian regimes, she implies that those who do live within it no longer have the freedom of thought or will necessary to question it. I don't really believe that even people within totalitarian regimes lack the independence of thought to realize that totalitarianism is flawed. Perhaps they are aware that the regime is too powerful to topple easily--but that does not mean that they are not aware that it is wrong. I've read literature written by individuals who have resided within totalitarian governments--and there generally seems to be a deep-seated unhappiness and skepticism in regards the government and its actions.