The paper compares the understanding of totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt and Michel Foucault. First, a critical reading of Arendt depicts her understanding of the characteristics of totalitarianism. Ideology is ultimately shown to be crucial for Arendt. Then Foucault’s critique of the concept of ideology is provided together with his understanding of the functioning of power. Special attention is given to Foucault’s understanding of biopower and his theorizing about Nazism, racism, and Stalinism. In the last part of the paper similarities and differences between Foucault and Arendt in the understanding of totalitarianism are drawn, and a synthetic definition of totalitarianism is offered, which can be helpful in evaluating the historical and modern political orders as totalitarian.

U radu se uspoređuju shvaćanja totalitarizma Hannah Arendt i Michela Foucaulta. Kritičkim čitanjem Arendt prikazuje se njezino razumijevanje karakteristika totalitarizma. Ideologija se u konačnici pokazuje presudnom za Arendtino shvaćanje totalitarizma. Zatim se prikazuje Foucaultova kritika pojma ideologije, te se izlaže njegovo shvaćanje funkcioniranja moći. Posebna se pažnja usmjerava na razumijevanje biomoći i njegovo teoretiziranje o nacizmu, rasizmu i staljinizmu. U završnom se dijelu ustanovljuju sličnosti i razlike u poimanju totalitarizma ovo dvoje autora te se nudi sintetska definicije totalitarizma koja može biti od pomoći u ocjeni povijesnih i suvremenih političkih poredaka kao totalitarnih.