Police state

{{politics}}
A '''police state''' is a [[country]] in which the populace is kept under tight control by a [[government]] that seeks to limit [[social]], [[political]], and sometimes [[economic]] activity by the citizenry to a substantial degree.

In a police state, [[human rights]] are subordinate to the will of the government (and, in some cases, the will of private interests with governmental authority to use force), and [[police brutality]] is not just accepted but also standard operating procedure, and the police force is partially or totally militarized. Generally speaking, police states don't have a separation of powers, and the executive is more or less unitary.

There is no universally accepted definition for police state, so usage of the term may cause confusion. However, given that 'police' is in the phrase, we at RW understand it to mean that the police are a primary method the government uses to keep the people in line, and the term might not refer to unfree states in which the police do not play a significant role in controlling the people. For example, Sudan is one of the most authoritarian countries in the world, but governmental force is executed mostly through the military.

==A few clear-cut examples of police states==
Some obvious examples of police states include [[North Korea]], [[China]], [[Russia]], [[Saudi Arabia]], and [[Iran]], to name just a few. Not to be forgotten are the now-defunct [[Soviet Union]], [[Benito Mussolini|Fascist Italy]], [[Nazi Germany]], the [[Japan]]ese Empire in the 1930s-1940s, Spain under [[Francisco Franco]], [[Apartheid|Mississippi and South Africa under segregationist rule]], Iraq under [[Saddam Hussein|Satan Hussein]], [[Uganda]] under [[Idi Amin|Idi A-murderin']],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/04/18/archives/secretpolice-records-reveal-vast-paranoia-of-idi-amins-regime.html |title=Secret‐Police Records Reveal Vast Paranoia Of Idi Amin's Regime |work=The New York Times |date=April 18, 1979}}</ref> [[Argentina]] under [[Jorge Rafael Videla|the Dirty War junta]], and Chile under [[Augusto Pinochet]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Zwier |first= Paul J. |title= Principled Negotiation and Mediation in the International Arena: Talking with Evil |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=W57hIyEOSUsC&pg=PA235 |access-date= 22 March 2014 |date= 22 April 2013 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn= 9781107026872 |pages= 235–}}</ref>

==Is the United States a police state?==
[http://www.projectcensored.org/ Project Censored] claims that an emerging police state has been the most unreported or censored story in the mainstream US press in 2011, 2012, and 2013.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20130304210134/https://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/1-signs-of-an-emerging-police-state/ [http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/1-signs-of-an-emerging-police-state/ (original link)]</ref> Others, including former New York Times journalist Chris Hedges, have argued that the United States and a number of other Western countries, such as Great Britain, have become or are becoming police states. Oftentimes, the FBI is understood to be the political police in the US;<ref>Theoharis, Athan, editor (1999). The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide. Checkmark Books. ISBN 0-8160-4228-4. - a scholarly anthology on the matter</ref> the mere existence of a powerful national police force may indicate that a country is a police state at least to some extent.

Also, given that the use of police brutality to squelch peaceful protest has become particularly visible to Americans and people of other Western nations, activists are arguing that their respective countries have some elements of a police state.

[[Occupy Wall Street|Protesters in the "Occupy" movement]] and other activists, both in the United States and in other countries where police state status is ambiguous, often chant "Show me what a police state looks like! This is what a police state looks like" when confronted by the po-po.

On the other hand, such pronouncements and criticisms are driving the very term itself into the status of an ideologically charged buzzword. Echoing [[George Orwell]]'s comments on fascism,<ref>Orwell, George (1944). [http://orwell.ru/library/articles/As_I_Please/english/efasc What is Fascism?]</ref> and other terms in the English language,<ref>[http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/06/stop-taking-orwells-name-in-vain/277027/ Stop Taking Orwell's Name in Vain], ''The Atlantic''</ref> police state cries and accusations risk falling into the rhetorical trap of other commonly used but fluidly-defined words: becoming convenient clichés for those one hates, not much better than a swear word.

Despite some number of police state elements creeping their way into American society, the United States is not a police state currently. That could change; hopefully it won't, and instead, a reversing of the trend will occur.

==See also==
*[[J. Edgar Hoover]]
*[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]
*[[Secret police]]
*[[Fascism]]
*[[Black Lives Matter]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Authoritarianism]]
[[Category:Totalitarianism]]

Categories: Authoritarianism, Totalitarianism