Totalitarian Surveillance Societies

The term totalitarian refers to a system in which a state requires total dedication to and recognition of its authority with no dissent. States often achieve this through increased surveillance and decreased privacy by its citizens. It is often associated with Nazi Germany, although the former Soviet Union and, more recently, North Korea would also qualify as totalitarian states. This entry examines the tactics of totalitarian surveillance societies by focusing on the most prominent example: Nazi Germany. The police force utilized to monitor its citizens is discussed, as is one of its most successful tactics: social network analysis (SNA). The entry examines both the informal and formal ways in which the Nazi Party turned Germany into a totalitarian surveillance society.

Dictatorships such as Nazi Germany (1933–1945) ...