North Korea andIran:

Alternative National Identities

North Korea: Totalitarianism

• A government type, possible only in the modern period, in which a government uses modern mass media and technology to exert unprecedented control over citizens’ lives. Government control with no limits.– Different from authoritarianism, which allows for some

private life. The state’s ideology is less pervasive in an authoritarian regime.

North Korea: Totalitarianism

• Korea was divided into Communist North Korea and democratic South Korea after WWII

• Korean War – 1950s, North attempted to unite the two through war

• No official peace treaty was ever signed • South Korea today is a successful

democracy and, economically, an “Asian Tiger”

North Korea: Totalitarianism• Led by the Kim family (Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong

Il, and today, Kim Jong Un)• Ideology of North Korea = “Juche,” or Self-

Reliance• Huge amounts of government propaganda• Nearly zero outside contact• Militaristic stance (million-man army, nuclear

weapons)• About 200,000 North Korean citizens are in

government-run gulags for political prisoners

Iran: Theocracy

• Rule by religious leaders

• Iran’s government is headed by an Ayatollah (Shi’a religious leader)

1979 Revolution

• Iran Revolution occurred against the Western-supported Shah and in favor of traditional Islamic Shi’ite values

• Anti-American, Anti-Western (the CIA had overthrown a democratically elected government in Iran in the 1950s after he tried to nationalize Iran’s oil industries)

Today

• Still a conservative theocracy• Religious minorities are protected, but

Shi’a Islam is the promoted religion• Shari’a law is used• Attempting to create a nuclear weapon

(this is all over the news right now b/c Israel might choose to strike before Iran goes nuclear…Iran says Israel doesn’t have the right to exist. Subtle. )