Page "Politics" Paragraph 49

Authoritarianism and libertarianism refer to the amount of individual freedom each person possesses in that society relative to the state.

One author describes authoritarian political systems as those where " individual rights and goals are subjugated to group goals, expectations and conformities ", while libertarians generally oppose the state and hold the individual as sovereign.

In their purest form, libertarians are anarchists, who argue for the total abolition of the state, while the purest authoritarians are totalitarians who support state control over all aspects of society.