I found the discussion around Turkmenistan, and whether it is a totalitarian state or not, incredibly interesting as I have been under the impression that it obviously is.
There are obvious parallels between it and some of the more 'obvious' totalitarian states, such as North Korea. Firstly, they are currently both ruled by a third-generation figure with a cult-ish sense of personality. Additionally, tourists cannot enter the country without a 24/7 escort watching them and dictating where they go. Both have leaders which have done some pretty out of the gate things, such as the Turkmenistan leader changing the names of the days of the week to be names of his family, and writing a whole book that is mandated to be taught in schools throughout the country.
After initially thinking that it was hardly a discussion that Turkmenistan was a totalitarian state, I did some research surrounding their trade agreements since that is a topic I know hardly anything about. Turns out that this creates the major distinction between Turkmenistan and other totalitarian states. To keep on using North Korea as an example, it trades exclusively with China. Turkmenistan has a large natural gas and oil sector and vastly trades with countries throughout Central Asia and afar. Turkmenistan also allows its citizens to have (controlled) access to the internet, something that is void in North Korea.
After doing a bit more research about both countries, I can see now that totalitarianism is definitely a spectrum rather than black and white, and that a country can fall somewhere different upon the scale. There is no question that Turkmenistan isn't a free country, but not to the same extent as North Korea.
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This was interesting to read, Gabriella! I also did some further research and found the discussion on trade agreements interesting. While Turkmenistan does show elements of totalitarianism, especially in leadership and control, it is less extreme than North Korea. Turkmenistan’s controlled internet access and diverse trade partnerships suggest a less isolated form of control. As noted in "Turkmenistan: Power, Politics and Petro-Authoritarianism" by Luca Anceschi, these factors highlight how Turkmenistan’s form of control, though significant, differs in scope and impact compared to North Korea.
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