ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the concept of ideocracy allows researchers to capture important aspects of the functional logic of regimes that would otherwise remain underexposed or even completely unconsidered. It illustrates the fruitfulness of the ideocracy concept for social science and historical research. The chapter explores central ideological element of the definition was already included in the older concept of ideocracy. It examines the Ideocratic rulers believe, at least generally, in the superiority of the ideologically deduced doctrines, rules, and maxims. Communist regimes that come to power through external intervention face fundamental legitimation problems, such as in the case of the formation of regimes in many parts of Eastern Europe after World War II. The results of the examination of the legitimation and delegitimation effects of the social policy of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) point in the same direction. The author shows that the regime, in its attitude towards political indifference, effectively combined co-optation, repression and legitimation.
