Arendt analyzed totalitarianism as a historically novel form of domination distinct from earlier tyranny, rooted in atomized mass society, ideology, and terror, in "The Origins of Totalitarianism" (1951). In "The Human Condition" (1958) she distinguished labor, work, and action as fundamental human activities, arguing that action undertaken in a shared public space among plural equals is the highest expression of human freedom, and in "Eichmann in Jerusalem" (1963) she coined "the banality of evil" to describe atrocity produced by thoughtless bureaucratic conformity rather than fanatical hatred.
Intellectual setting
Arendt wrote as a stateless Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany working to understand how the totalitarian regimes of Hitler and Stalin had been possible, and her account of Eichmann's trial provoked intense controversy, particularly among Jewish communities, over her portrayal of both Eichmann's motivations and some Jewish leaders' conduct under Nazi occupation.
Key ideas
The banality of evil
Reporting on Adolf Eichmann's trial, Arendt argued his participation in the Holocaust stemmed not from monstrous ideological fanaticism but from an ordinary failure to think and to judge, a thoughtless bureaucratic conformity she called the banality of evil.
Action and the public realm
Arendt distinguished labor (biological survival), work (making durable objects), and action (speech and deeds among plural others), arguing that action performed within a shared public space is the distinctively human activity through which freedom and individual identity appear.
Legacy
Arendt's "Origins of Totalitarianism" remains a foundational analysis of twentieth-century totalitarian regimes, and "the banality of evil" became a central concept across moral philosophy, genocide studies, and political theory.