ISIS: A new totalitarianism?

As liberal democracies assess the threat that ISIS poses and try to understand what motivates those who are attracted to it, an analogy springs to mind. Like the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century — Nazi and Communist — and like North Korea today, ISIS aspires to attain complete control of those whom it governs, and to totalize all moral and legal norms within the territory that it controls. And like Communist regimes, ISIS is more than willing to kill its own people, particularly dissente

As liberal democracies assess the threat that ISIS poses and try to understand what motivates those who are attracted to it, an analogy springs to mind. Like the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century — Nazi and Communist — and like North Korea today, ISIS aspires to attain complete control of those whom it governs, and to totalize all moral and legal norms within the territory that it controls. And like Communist regimes, ISIS is more than willing to kill its own people, particularly dissente…