For Hayek, the supposedly stark difference between authoritarianism and totalitarianism has much importance and Hayek places heavy weight on this distinction in his defence of transitional dictatorship. For example, when Hayek visited Venezuela in May 1981, he was asked to comment on the prevalence of totalitarian regimes in Latin America. In reply, Hayek warned against confusing "totalitarianism with authoritarianism," and said that he was unaware of "any totalitarian governments in Latin America. The only one was Chile under Allende". For Hayek, however, the word 'totalitarian' signifies something very specific: the want to “organize the whole of society” to attain a “definite social goal” —which is stark in contrast to “liberalism and individualism”. COUNT 4
QSN1 Hayek believed that authoritarianism was very different from what? ANS1 totalitarianism QSN2 What country did Hayek arrive in where he provided his disctinction between totalitarianism and authoritarianism? ANS2 Venezuela QSN3 What did Hayek believe to be absent from Latin America? ANS3 totalitarian governments QSN4 What is Hayek's definition of totalitarian? ANS4 the want to “organize the whole of society” to attain a “definite social goal”