Personal dictators remain a key feature of contemporary regimes termed ‘authoritarian’ or ‘totalitarian’, particularly in their early consolidating phases. But there is still disagreement over the seemingly ideological, polemical and indiscriminate use of the term totalitarian dictatorship as an analytic concept and tool to guide foreign policy formulation. Jeane Kirkpatrick elevated the taxonomy to a vociferous level of debate with a 1979Commentary article. Entitled ‘Dictatorships and Double Standards’, the work raised anew semantic hairsplitting concerning the qualitative differences between all previous tyrannies and those bearing organisational similarities with the Nazi, Fascist or Stalinist prototypes.

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⁴ My thanks to an anonymous reviewer for reminding the author of this caveat. The article was revised with these and other comments in mind.

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¹⁰ The author gratefully acknowledges a second anonymous reviewer who suggested analysing the characteristic totalitarian internationalist posture.

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²⁹Draper,Theodore,Castroism: Theory and Practice (New York,1965), pp.48–9Google Scholar. An additional perspective that probes Castro's mindset is a Rand Corporation study byGonzález,Edward andRonfeldt,David,Castro, Cuba, and the World (Santa Monica, CA,1986).Google Scholar

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⁵³ The author remembers attention in Asunción riveted on Stroessner's June 1988 speech before the United Nations General Assembly on (of all topics) nuclear disarmament. The speech was carried live via direct satellite feed on both of Paraguay's television networks. It was patently crafted for domestic consumption; being more a nationalistic defence of democracy ‘Paraguayan style’. The cameras remained glued to Stroessner. Later, it was revealed the General Assembly was almost empty of spectators who were boycotting the speech in protest against Stroessner's dictatorship. The speech was a huge success in Asunción.

⁵⁴ For Stroessner's consolidation of power, seeYegros,Leandro Prieto,El Coloradismo Eterno Con Stroessner, tomo 1 (Asunción,1988).Google Scholar

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⁵⁷ This personal Presidential Escort Regiment fought the motorised Cavalry Divisions headed by General Andrés Rodríguez in the coup of 3 Feb. 1989. Approximately 300 men from both sides died in the fighting.

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⁶¹ General-President Andrés Rodríguez, long a Stroessner intimate before turning on him, is considered by law enforcement authorities to be Paraguay's No. 1 drug trafficker. SeeThe Arizona Daily Star, 5 Feb. 1989. The assassination of deposed Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza was rumoured to be linked to a faction of the officer corps surrounding Rodríguez, for Somoza'sparvenu involvement in the military's international cocaine trade. SeeCOHA's Washington Report on the Hemisphere, 30 Sept. 1980. For more on military corruption, seeCarlos María,Lezcano G., ‘Lealtad al General-Presidente’,Investigaciones Sociales Educación Comunicación—ISEC, vol.6 (Asunción,1986), p.3.Google Scholar

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