Hannh Arendt?
She was one of the most intelligent people I ever read. And one of the hardest to understand. Primary language barrier with incredibly complex sentence structure.
Her Book: “The Origins of Totalitarianism”, was one of the most difficult reads I ever attempted.
Too few people in the US are familiar with her.
If I remember correctly she said something to the effect: the key or prerequisite to a totalitarian government is a large and unencumbered bureaucracy.