Totalitarian regimes - the case of Stalin's regime and the people's commissariat of internal affairs (NKVD) system

This study seeks to answer the questions "What is totalitarianism, what are its characteristics, what is the role of the NKVD in Soviet totalitarianism and what has it done?". Also, how political regimes have been classified by different philosophers and political scientists from antiquity eras to the present day, which features they have and the factors affecting their developmental stages have been examined. Beside this the study examines the structure and functioning of the NKVD system established during the Stalin era. The duties, organization, powers and repressive mechanisms of the NKVD are discussed in detail. It also examines the functions of the NKVD such as suppressing dissent, targeting political enemies and keeping every segment of society under surveillance.