How is Turkmenistan a totalitarian country?

This is such a broadly-stated question, it's like asking, how is a cat a mammal? So I'll keep this much shorter than it could be. It could be a book. And it is. Several of them, including one of mine. Totalitarianism is an over-used term. read more

Despite these facets of an admittedly highly oppressive state, I submit that Turkmenistan is more authoritarian than totalitarian because the regime is more interested in submission and obeisance than in the intimate involvement of its subjects’ hearts and minds on a day to day basis, as is the case under a regime such as Communist China under Mao, when a “floor lady” would report your sexual habits to a bloc cadre. read more

North Korea is one of the clearest examples of a totalitarian government. Other countries with dictatorships and authoritarian rule, such as Cuba, Syria, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Belarus, could also be considered totalitarian governments. read more

Although Turkmenistan inherited a solid public health infrastructure from the Soviet Union, Niyazov’s reforms have dismantled much of it, closing health clinics across the country, dismissing thousands of medical professionals and limiting rural communities’ access to medical care. read more