Imagining Mass Dictatorships: The Individual and the Masses in Literature and Cinema

摘要

By introducing the term 'mass dictatorship' as a specific form of modern dictatorships that depend 'upon [the] ability to entice and employ multiple forms of active participation of the many' (ⅲ), the editor of the book series Mass Dictatorship in the 20th Century, Jie-Hyun Lim, challenges the seemingly simple oppositions of coercion versus consent and victim versus oppressor in different mass dictatorships in Europe, Asia and Africa, and thus draws attention to the very important and variously discussed question of (collective) guilt. The term emphasizes the fact that crimes committed under such a regime are not executed solely by a small group of political leaders, but that 'ordinary' people also supported the regime, contributed to atrocities and shared a certain form of political power.