Vanguards, Sacralisation of Politics, and Totalitarianism: Category-based Epistemology and Political Religion
Academic Article
Overview
Research
Identity
Additional Document Info
Other
View All
Overview
abstract
2014 Taylor & Francis. This article overviews the current debate on political religion as it relates to totalitarian regimes. Beginning by contrasting Emilio Gentiles sacralisation of politics thesis with Richard Shortens critiques of political religion as a concept, this article discusses the specific role of vanguard party organisation in the sacralising of political systems. Founded upon category- based epistemology where a special, universal part of mass society has unique access to truth and maintained by vanguard organisations populated by professional revolutionaries, totalitarian movements/regimes create practices and self-conceptualisation analogous to religion. This article also addresses the (dis)similarities between religion and political religion, providing some boundaries in which the political religion concept is useful.