Talk at the Woodrow Wilson Center on Monday, October 2, 2017.

Scholars distinguish traditional from modern dictatorships on the basis of their goals and tactics. Hitler and Stalin epitomize the traditional, marked by reliance on violence and efforts to impose ideologies. Today’s dictators rely primarily on other means to maintain popularity and power and do not seek social revolution. Nathan Stoltzfus argues that Hitler’s goals of mass murder and his resolve to change German beliefs limited his reliance on instrumental force to rule his own Volk.