Overview[]
A police state describes a state where its government institutions exercise an extreme level of control over civil society and liberties. There is typically little or no distinction between the law and the exercise of political power by the executive, and the deployment of internal security and police forces play a heightened role in governance. A police state is a characteristic of authoritarian, totalitarian or illiberal regimes (contrary to a liberal democratic regime). Such governments are typically one-party states, but police-state-level control may emerge in multi-party systems as well.
Originally, a police state was a state regulated by a civil administration, but since the beginning of the 20th century it has "taken on an emotional and derogatory meaning" by describing an undesirable state of living characterized by the overbearing presence of civil authorities. The inhabitants of a police state may experience restrictions on their mobility, or on their freedom to express or communicate political or other views, which are subject to police monitoring or enforcement. Political control may be exerted by means of a secret police force that operates outside the boundaries normally imposed by a constitutional state. Robert von Mohl, who first introduced the rule of law to German jurisprudence, contrasted the Rechtsstaat ("legal" or "constitutional" state) with the anti-aristocratic Polizeistaat ("police state").
Corruption, political bias, psychopathic leaders and repression are common in those nations.
History[]
Pre-Cold War[]
The Oprichnina established by Tsar Ivan IV within the Russian Tsardom in 1565 functioned as a predecessor to the modern police state, featuring persecutions and autocratic rule.
Cold War[]
Gen. Augusto Pinochet's Chile was operated as a police state, exhibiting "repression of public liberties, the elimination of political exchange, limiting freedom of speech, abolishing the right to strike, freezing wages". Arbitrary arrest, political disappearances, harsh press censorship, a ban on state independent (if not all) trades unions and the repression of all known political opponents was a norm of life.
The Republic of Cuba under President (and later right-wing dictator) Fulgencio Batista was an authoritarian police state until his overthrow during the Cuban Revolution in 1959 with the rise to power of Fidel Castro and foundation of a Marxist-Leninist republic. Arbitrary arrest, political disappearances, harsh press censorship, a ban on state independent (if not all) trades unions and the repression of all known political opponents was a norm of life.
USSR was described as the largest police state in history. Arbitrary arrest, political disappearances, harsh press censorship, a ban on state independent (if not all) trades unions and the repression of all known political opponents was a norm of life.
Post Cold War[]
Modern-day Russia and Belarus are often described as police states. Arbitrary arrest, political disappearances, harsh press censorship, a ban on state independent (if not all) trades unions and the repression of all known political opponents was a norm of life.
American hypocrisy[]
America's juvenile zero tolerance crime policy, along with the political antics of both Boris Johnston and Donald Trump were a attempt to set up a police state. It is well known money buys justice in America and that jail sentences are tougher on the young, black, Latino, mentally ill, disabled, lefties and poor.
Also see[]
Latin American juntas and dictatorships! (1944-1992) | |
---|---|
Operation Condor, Operation PBFortune
and other black-opps |
Black-opps - Operation PBFortune - special-opps- Operation Condor- American collusion in Operation Condor- French collusion in Operation Condor- Argentina's "Dirty War" - Operation Soberanía - La Violencia - Colombian conflict (1964–present) - Peruvian conflict - United States involvement in regime change in Latin America - 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état - United States invasion of Panama - Panamanian 'Dignity Battalions' - Port Belgrano Naval Base |
Systems of state repression | The "La Técnica" torture center - Vill Gremadi Detention Center - Dirección Nacional de Asuntos Técnicos - Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional (DINA) - Panamanian 'Dignity Battalions' - Death flight - Political disappearances |
The ones who tried to get nukes | Brazil (failed) - Chile (failed) - Argentina (failed) - Cuba (gave them up) - Cuban Missile Crisis |
Economics | Paving the Quito-Tulcán road in the early 1970s - Argentine Cold War era hyper inflation- Brazil's development of the Amazon region in the 1970s- Transamazon Highway (BR-230) (the 1970s part) |
Politics and Geo-politics | Falklands sovereignty dispute - 1982 Falklands War - Cold War - Operation Soberanía - Beagle conflict - Snipe incident - United States invasion of Panama - 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties |
Technology | Alacrán (Condor IAIII) missile - The Condor and Alacrán missile programs - El Torero Enojado (fake aircraft) - FMA IA 58 Pucará - FMA IAe 33 Pulqui II |
People | General Augusto Pinochet - Alfredo Stroessner - Jorge Rafael Videla - Guillermo Rodríguez (politician) - Leopoldo Galtieri - Juan Domingo Perón -Gustavo Rojas Pinilla- Luis García Meza Tejada - Juan María Bordaberry - Marcos Pérez Jiménez - Manuel Apolinario Odría - João Goulart -Dwight D. Eisenhower - Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno - Anastasio Somoza García - Rafael Trujillo - Fulgencio Batista - Fidel Castro - Carlos Castillo Armas - Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes - Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North - Omar Torrijos - Anastasio Somoza Debayle - Luis Somoza Debayle - General Oswaldo López Arellano - (General Kjell Eugenio Laugerud García - General Romeo Lucas García - General Carlos Humberto Romero |
Important places | The "La Técnica" torture center - Vill Gremadi Detention Center - Port Belgrano Naval Base |
Wars and civil wars | Colombian conflict (1964–present) - Peruvian conflict - Contras - Sandinistas - Operation Soberanía - Argentina's "Dirty War" - 1982 Falklands War - Operation Soberanía - Beagle conflict - Snipe incident - La guerra del fútbol - Guatemalan Civil War - Salvadoran Civil War - Guerrilla Army of the Poor - 1979 Nicaraguan Revolution |
Other stuff | 601 Commando Company - 602 Commando Company - 601 Air Assault Regiment - 5th Marine Battalion (Argentina) - Guatemalan genocide against the Maya - Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation |
Sources[]
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_state
- https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/16/world/europe/poland-belarus-border-crisis.html
- https://archive.org/details/rasputinfallofro00wils
- https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8keIXDyF_EoC&redir_esc=y
- https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VNUNB2s5pcoC&pg=PA233&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
- https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=W57hIyEOSUsC&pg=PA235&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
- https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5uJAUbMcekAC&pg=PT225&redir_esc=y
- https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=STjcB_f7CVcC&pg=PA120&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
- https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YLsdAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y
- https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/16/world/europe/poland-belarus-border-crisis.html
- https://neweasterneurope.eu/2021/04/11/russias-police-state-showed-its-real-face-in-latest-protest-crackdown/
- https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=7ZVDjmr18f4C&printsec=frontcover&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
- https://www.bing.com/search?q=south+american+death+flights&cvid=622b7d551dcb44cea1d08dc23cd0dd92&aqs=edge..69i57.24597j0j1&pglt=43&FORM=ANNTA1&PC=EDGEDB
- https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/nearly-600-tanks-ordered-in-5-5bn-deal-may-never-enter-service-defence-chiefs-admit/ar-AA1652Lw?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=ef57226c003943099ad73163fa94f633
- https://guides.library.duq.edu/disappearedpersons/Argentina#:~:text=Argentina%20Throughout%20Argentina%27s%20Dirty%20War%2C%20from%201974%20to,estimated%20nearly%208%2C960%20people%20still%20missing%20in%20Argentina.