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Key Points
- Research suggests fascism is defined by authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and suppression of dissent, but there's debate on applying it to modern politicians.
- It seems likely that a politician can be called fascist if they show patterns like centralized power, extreme nationalism, and media control.
- The evidence leans toward needing multiple characteristics, like militarism and scapegoating, for the label to be legitimate, but consensus varies.
Understanding Fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian political ideology historically linked to regimes like Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany. It emphasizes ultranationalism, often with racial or ethnic superiority, and seeks to centralize power under a dictatorial leader. To describe a politician as fascist today, we look for behaviors and policies that mirror these historical traits, but the application can be controversial due to differing scholarly views.
Criteria for Labeling
Key indicators include:
- Authoritarian Governance: Centralizing power, suppressing opposition, and potentially holding fraudulent elections.
- Ultranationalism: Promoting extreme nationalism, often with racial or ethnic focus, and a narrative of national rebirth.
- Militarism and Security: Glorifying the military, using force, and leveraging fear for security to justify curtailing freedoms.
- Control Mechanisms: Controlling media, protecting corporate interests while suppressing labor, and using propaganda with simplified language.
These criteria should be evident in the politician's actions and rhetoric, supported by scholarly analysis or historical parallels, to ensure the label isn't misused.
Survey Note: Detailed Analysis of Fascist Characteristics in Politicians
This note provides a comprehensive examination of the basis for describing a politician as fascist, drawing from extensive research into historical definitions and contemporary applications. The analysis is informed by multiple scholarly sources, including definitions from encyclopedias, academic lists of fascist characteristics, and expert essays, ensuring a thorough understanding of the ideology and its manifestations.
Historical Context and Definitions
Fascism emerged as a political ideology in the early 20th century, notably in Italy under Benito Mussolini and Germany under Adolf Hitler. It is characterized by far-right authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and a rejection of democratic principles. According to Wikipedia: Fascism, fascism involves dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and strong regimentation of society and economy. Britannica: Fascism adds that it features extreme militant nationalism, hatred of communism and socialism, contempt for democracy, and belief in natural social hierarchy. Merriam-Webster: Fascism describes it as a philosophy exalting nation and race above the individual, with centralized autocratic government and severe economic and social regimentation.
The difficulty in defining fascism is noted by historian Ian Kershaw, who stated, "Trying to define 'fascism' is like trying to nail jelly to the wall," highlighting the variability in its manifestations (Definitions of fascism - Wikipedia). This complexity is evident in contemporary debates, where the term is sometimes used loosely, as seen in discussions around the 2024 U.S. presidential election (What Is Fascism? | CFR Education).
Scholarly Criteria for Identification
To provide a structured approach, two key lists of fascist characteristics were analyzed: Lawrence Britt's "14 Characteristics of Fascism" and Umberto Eco's "14 Features of Ur-Fascism." These lists, derived from historical fascist regimes, offer a framework for assessing modern politicians.
Lawrence Britt's 14 Characteristics
Britt's list, published in the Spring 2003 issue of Free Inquiry magazine, is based on regimes like Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy (Ratical.org: 14 Characteristics of Fascism). The characteristics are:
Characteristic Number | Description |
|---|---|
1 | Powerful and Continuing Nationalism: Constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, flags. |
2 | Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights: Ignoring rights due to security needs, approving torture, etc. |
3 | Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause: Rallying against perceived threats like minorities, liberals, terrorists. |
4 | Supremacy of the Military: Disproportionate funding, neglecting domestic issues, glamorizing military service. |
5 | Rampant Sexism: Male-dominated governments, rigid gender roles, opposition to abortion, homophobia. |
6 | Controlled Mass Media: Direct or indirect government control, censorship, especially in wartime. |
7 | Obsession with National Security: Using fear as a motivational tool. |
8 | Religion and Government are Intertwined: Using religion to manipulate opinion, despite policy contradictions. |
9 | Corporate Power is Protected: Business aristocracy supports government, creating a power elite. |
10 | Labor Power is Suppressed: Labor unions eliminated or severely suppressed. |
11 | Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts: Hostility to education, censorship of academics, attacking free expression in arts. |
12 | Obsession with Crime and Punishment: Police given limitless power, overlooking abuses for patriotism, national police with unlimited power. |
13 | Rampant Cronyism and Corruption: Governed by friends appointing each other, protecting from accountability, stealing national resources. |
14 | Fraudulent Elections: Sham elections, manipulation via smear campaigns, legislation, media, and judiciaries. |
These characteristics provide a broad spectrum, emphasizing authoritarian control, nationalism, and suppression of dissent, which are crucial for assessing modern politicians.
Umberto Eco's 14 Features of Ur-Fascism
Eco's essay, "Ur-Fascism," published in 1995 in The New York Review of Books (The New York Review of Books: Ur-Fascism), lists features that are typical of eternal fascism, noting they may not form a system but can coalesce around one present trait. The features are:
Feature Number | Description of Ur-Fascism Feature |
|---|---|
1 | The cult of tradition, syncretistic, tolerates contradictions, no advancement of learning, truth already spelled out. |
2 | Rejection of modernism, disguised as rebuttal of capitalism, rooted in irrationalism, against the Spirit of 1789 and 1776. |
3 | Cult of action for action’s sake, thinking is emasculation, distrust of intellectual world, culture suspect for critical attitudes. |
4 | Disagreement is treason, critical spirit makes distinctions, sign of modernism, scientific community praises disagreement, Ur-Fascism sees it as betrayal. |
5 | Exploits fear of difference, racist by definition, appeal against intruders, seeks consensus by exacerbating natural fear of diversity. |
6 | Derives from individual or social frustration, appeals to frustrated middle class, finds audience in new majority of petty bourgeois. |
7 | Offers privilege of being born in same country, origin of nationalism, obsession with plot (e.g., international, Jews as inside/outside target), appeal to xenophobia. |
8 | Followers feel humiliated by enemies’ wealth and force, enemies seen as too strong and too weak, fascist governments lose wars due to inability to evaluate enemy force. |
9 | Life is permanent warfare, pacifism is trafficking with enemy, Armageddon complex, final battle for control, contradicts principle of permanent war, no fascist leader solves this. |
10 | Elitism, aristocratic and militaristic, popular elitism where every citizen belongs to best people, Leader’s power based on masses’ weakness, hierarchical organization reinforces mass elitism. |
11 | Everybody educated to be a hero, heroism is norm, linked with cult of death, hero craves heroic death, sends others to death, e.g., Falangist motto “Viva la Muerte” (Long Live Death!). |
12 | Transfers will to power to sexual matters, origin of machismo, disdain for women, intolerance of nonstandard sexual habits, plays with weapons as ersatz phallic exercise. |
13 | Selective populism, qualitative, People as monolithic entity, no individual rights, Leader interprets Common Will, against “rotten” parliamentary governments, e.g., Mussolini’s “bivouac for my maniples,” future TV/Internet populism. |
14 | Speaks Newspeak, impoverished vocabulary and elementary syntax to limit critical reasoning, identify other kinds, e.g., popular talk show, from Orwell’s 1984. |
Eco's list emphasizes psychological and cultural aspects, such as the cult of tradition and fear of difference, complementing Britt's more structural approach.
Synthesis of Criteria
Combining these insights, the basis for describing a politician as fascist includes:
- Authoritarian Governance: Centralizing power, often dictatorial, with suppression of opposition (Britt 1, 2, 14; Eco 4, 13).
- Ultranationalism: Extreme nationalism, often with racial or ethnic focus, and a narrative of national rebirth (Britt 1; Eco 7, 9).
- Militarism: Glorification of the military and use of force, both domestically and internationally (Britt 4; Eco 10, 11).
- Suppression of Rights: Disdain for human rights, including freedom of speech, assembly, and opposition (Britt 2, 6, 11; Eco 4, 5).
- Control of Media: Manipulation or direct control to propagate regime views and suppress alternatives (Britt 6; Eco 14).
- Economic Control: State intervention, protecting corporate interests while suppressing labor (Britt 9, 10; Eco 2, 10).
- Cult of Personality: Charismatic leadership, emphasizing the leader's role in national salvation (Eco 10, 13; Britt 8).
- Scapegoating: Identifying enemies to unify the population, often minorities or liberals (Britt 3; Eco 5, 7).
- Traditionalism and Anti-Intellectualism: Rejection of modernism and critical thinking, with a cult of tradition (Eco 1, 3; Britt 11).
- Machismo and Gender Roles: Enforcement of traditional roles, suppression of women's rights (Britt 5; Eco 12).
- Obsession with Security: Using fear to justify curtailing freedoms (Britt 7, 12; Eco 6, 9).
- Corruption and Cronyism: Government by a select group, with favoritism and corruption (Britt 13; Eco 10).
- Fraudulent Elections: Manipulation of electoral processes to maintain power (Britt 14; Eco 13).
- Propaganda and Simplified Language: Use of rhetoric that simplifies issues and limits critical reasoning (Britt 6, 11; Eco 14).
Not all characteristics need to be present, but a significant number, especially core ones like authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and suppression of opposition, are essential for legitimacy. This aligns with scholarly consensus that fascism requires distinguishing traits beyond mere authoritarianism (Definitions of fascism - Wikipedia).
Contemporary Application and Controversy
Applying these criteria to modern politicians is debated, as seen in discussions around figures like Donald Trump, where scholars like Sheri Berman argue about fitting the definition (What is fascism? A look at the term being hurled at Donald Trump - ABC News). The Washington Post article from 2016 suggests a "formula" for assessing fascism, indicating ongoing efforts to quantify these traits (How fascist is Donald Trump? There’s actually a formula for that. - The Washington Post). However, the term's loose usage, as noted in What Is Fascism? | CFR Education, underscores the need for careful analysis to avoid misuse.
Conclusion
Describing a politician as fascist requires a thorough analysis of their actions, policies, and rhetoric, ideally supported by scholarly consensus or clear parallels to historical fascist regimes. The label should not be used lightly or as a mere insult but reserved for situations with substantial evidence of fascist ideology and practice, ensuring accuracy and reflecting the political reality.
Key Citations
