Fascism, Ideologies
Standing
Concerns Description
Currently States Fascism is a political ideology and movement that emerged in Italy under Benito Mussolini, who became prime minister in 1922, establishing the first fascist state in Europe. It holds that the state is an all powerful entity that should direct virtually every part of political, economic, social and moral life, subordinating the individual to the nation. Legitimacy is claimed through nationalist unity, propaganda and the charismatic authority of a single leader, rather than through popular consent expressed by competitive elections. On property, fascist economies typically kept nominally private ownership and corporations, but placed them under strict state direction, with the state setting prices, wages and production quotas, an arrangement fascist theorists presented as a middle way between capitalism and socialism. Fascism positioned itself explicitly against both liberal democracy and Marxist socialism, rejecting the individualism of the one and the class struggle and internationalism of the other.
Whether generic fascism names one coherent trans-national ideology (this entry's working premise, following scholars such as Roger Griffin) or is a retrospective label imposed on distinct national movements with no single common core is itself an active historiographic dispute; see the attached dissent.
Source Fascism (EBSCO Research Starters)