Comparative Fascism

Catalog description

This course will examine the philosophical origins, theoretical characterizations and historical and political evolution of fascist political movements in Europe. The course is comparative in method and scope concentrating on the common characteristics of all fascist regimes and neo-fascist political movements. Historically, the course will focus on the paradigmatic cases of the interwar period--Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany—and, especially, on the more unorthodox case of Francoist Spain, the only Fascist regime that survived WWII and into the Cold War era. Finally, we will survey the emergence of neo-fascist movements in contemporary Europe seeking to identify how they resemble, and differ from, their past precursors. The course is divided into three parts. Part I studies the philosophical roots of fascist ideologies in the European reactionary tradition while contextualizing its emergence as a political ideology, socio-political movement and regime type under the specific historical conditions existing in interwar Europe. Part II studies the most salient policies and historical evolution of the fascist political regimes that came into being during the XXth century in Italy, Germany and, Spain. In part III, we will reflect on the rebirth of neo-fascism in Europe, the continuing aesthetic attraction exerted by fascism in European politics and society and the lasting influence of fascism on certain democratic state policies such as interest representation (corporatism).