Representing a serious threat to the welfare of any society, the “deep state" is a salient feature of dictatorial regimes. Adopting a panoptic vision, the state power employs various forms of force and domination to dehumanize its citizens and violate their basic human rights. This paper shows how George Orwell's 1984 and Gamal Al Ghitani's Al Zayni Barakat , in spite of belonging to two different cultures and despite depicting two different periods, share the same vision in their exploration of the nature of totalitarian regimes and the coercive measures they adopt to maintain social conformity and control over their citizens. The unmasking of the “deep state" in both novels will be illuminated in the light of the four major theorists: Gramsci, Althusser, Bentham and Foucault. The paper emphasizes that both novels, which can be considered a prototypical example of dystopian fiction, are timeless works that reject despotism everywhere and at anytime. Presenting the world as a great prison which strips its prisoners of their intrinsic human rights, both writers yearn for a world overwhelmed with freedom, equality and justice. However, in their portrayal of this world, as the paper illuminates, both writers adopt different approaches and techniques including political allegory, parody, intertextuality and flashback