Hannah Arendt is a world-renowned influencer because of her magical work in her political ideas, theories and publications. Because of her work on these ideas and approaches, she found a platform where most people can learn about citizenship, freedom and Democracy. Totalitarism, social consciousness, and political freedom are key components that influence the progress and productivity of a country. I chose Arendt’s ideas because they incorporate a wide range of knowledge and adequately researched content which contains all the necessary information to evaluate the topic. Arendt’s work is effective and reliable when you want to acquire information on matters of Democracy, freedom and even citizenship. Furthermore, Arendt’s stories have gained wide support from other authors who confirm Arendt’s work is legitimate. These theories and ideas are essential and relevant to the current societal changes as they impact Democracy, citizenship and freedom.
In her work, Arendt supported the argument that totalitarianism is a government system that takes charge of all people’s lives and dictates how the people should live. Totalitarianism is a government that denies an individual the authority to use power to subordinate any person’s life using state authority (Arendt, 2021). Andrea stated that totalitarianism abducted any rights of citizens to express their rights and execute their obligations freely. According to Arendt, totalitarianism is characterized by the formation of a powerful centralized rule that utilizes force and repression to rule all spheres of the people. Arendt reasoned that with a total political system, the Democracy of the people was directly grabbed from them as they had no voice to air their concerns. His research agreed with Arendt’s findings that totalitarianism lacks reasons for which its ideas can be sold to the public(Zarko, 2022). Zarko argued that in a totalitarian political system, individuals are mandated to obey the government’s regulations without questioning or objecting to the authorities. A Totalitarian government denies internal political divisions to ensure the objective is achieved. Therefore, Zarko concluded that when people could not express themselves, Democracy was taken away. Zarko stated that totalitarianism is the type of government that requires its people’s commitment to its obligations with all their souls and mind.
Arendt expressed political freedom as a state whereby individuals have the freedom to execute their ideas without oppression from the government. Arendt explained that political freedom for the members of society was a key concept in the exercising of Democracy. Arendt argued that political freedom required people to freely express themselves and conduct their affairs without facing harassment from the government and those in authority. According to Arendt, political freedom is a vital concept influencing people in all spheres of life. Political freedom determines the state of people economically. With political freedom, people can venture into businesses without fear of facing objections from the state authorities. Political freedom considers both politically considered minor groups and influential groups to advocate for their rights openly without fear. Political freedom is predominantly expressed through work freedom, freedom of assembly, and press freedom (Arendt, 2021). Political freedom has a direct impact on the economic development of a country. The work of Arendt is in correlation with the work of Oren. Ore argued that political freedom contributes to the Democracy of people in a country in a big way. According to Oren, for people to experience the fruits of Democracy, they should first advocate for political freedom.
Oren stated that for people to acquire political freedom, they should unite and speak in uniform. This was the way people could achieve Democracy. Who established research on how Democracy was key for citizens to find political freedom (Oren, 2020). However, Matthew also argued that in some cases, when citizens have much political freedom, they undertake activities that threaten the existence of human beings (Matthew, 2020). This could lead to Democracy being abducted from them. Oren argued that when people have too much liberty, they tend to misuse the freedom and use it in the wrong way. Therefore, in such cases, they face limitations on their political freedom, depriving them of their Democracy.
According to Arendt, social consciousness was a pathway for people to access freedom and freedom. Arendt stated that for people to achieve Democracy, it is mandatory to know their desires and other people’s beliefs. Social consciousness is when individuals in a particular community have socially identified self-awareness and experience. Arendt argued that social consciousness is necessary when they require to be served and ruled in justice because they are aware of their rights. The community shares common ideologies, which they utilize when solving challenges and handling critical issues (Arendt, 2021). In a social consciousness state, an individual is usually aware of different people in their community and how they influence each other in their coexistence. Arendt’s work is supported by the research conducted by Ronald Glassman (Ronald, 2021), who argued that social consciousness is essential for people to obtain Democracy. In his work, Ronald states that when people have a common approach to life can coexist, and thus, this at large promotes citizenship since people have a sense of belonging to their society.
To conclude, Arendt’s political freedom, social consciousness and totalitarianism theories and ideas are relevant in the implication to Democracy, citizenship and freedom of the people in the current quick changes the society is experiencing. With the support of other authors, Arendt’s theories and ideas provide a fundamental foundation where people can fathom how Democracy, citizenship and freedom are impacted by political freedom, social consciousness and totalitarianism.
REFERENCES
Matthew, T., 2020. From Greta to the Great Reset: Making Emergencies Work
Oren, M., 2020. Globalism and Inequality Are the Real Threats to Our Democracy. https://doi.org/10.1080/05775132.2019.1709725
Žarko, P., 2022. The Return of Totalitarianism. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-18942-5
Ronald, M., 2021. Can Democracy Survive in the 21st Century? Oligarchy, tyranny, and ochlocracy in the age of global capitalism. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-76821-8
Arendt, H., 2021. The Origins of Totalitarianism
write