What is fascism values

German extreme-right parties have tended to be most successful in the former communist parts of Eastern Germany, at the expense of the Christian Democrats. Finally, the anti-immigrant Lijst Fortuyn party became the second party in the Dutch parliament in the May election, following the assassination of its leader. These developments raise the question whether fascism is in reality undergoing a revival, or whether these movements, at least in Western Europe, are no more than hard-right conservative parties still fully compatible with the democratic tradition.

Overall, the prospects for revived fascism still look poor. Democratic government has been the norm in Western Europe for over half a century. Political and economic stability, rising living standards, welfare measures and full employment have dulled the edge of political controversy. Travel, television and education have produced, according to some liberals, a more tolerant and sophisticated populace. In such a grave crisis the far right in Europe would be forced to reveal whether it is genuinely committed to the democratic process and liberal institutions or fundamentally rejects them.

Mosley fitted the role of charismatic leader nicely. He was strikingly handsome, with an impressive military record. He had been a Conservative MP and, later, a Labour minister. Mosley was disillusioned over the failures of parliamentary democracy to tackle the severe unemployment of the s and s, which he attributed to a failure of free-market economics and international finance.

Government would be dynamic and vigorously involved in society and the economy. While Mosley assumed that the BUF would gain a parliamentary majority by constitutional and conventional means, once in power it would take extraordinary powers radically to reconstruct the political system on fascist lines. After the war and a spell in prison, Mosley tried to revive his political fortunes by launching the Union Movement, which aimed at a united Europe and the expulsion of Afro-Caribbean and other immigrants.

This achieved very little and Mosley became wholly marginalised. Fascism in Britain seemed extinct. At its height it never returned even one MP partly, of course, due to the British electoral system, but mainly because of its unpalatable political views. In , however, the National Front NF was formed. It purveyed a strongly anti-immigrant policy, rather than the anti-Semitism of the BUF. Itself an amalgam of a complex grouping of tiny racist parties, the National Front was riven by dissension and splits, and although it caused something of a stir in the s it failed disastrously in the general election.

Right-wing sentiment favoured the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher. In recent years it has cloaked itself with the mantle of democracy and has enjoyed some electoral success at local level, as when it won a council seat in the Isle of Dogs in London in In reality it wants to dismantle the liberal British state and replace it with a corporatist one under an authoritarian leader.

Other far-right groups indulged in some low-level terrorist activity directed against non-white Britons, leftists and gays. Groups like Combat 18 and the League of St. In the BNP put up fifty-six candidates and in ten constituencies won over one thousand votes.

While it never came near winning a seat it acquired the right to a television election broadcast, received much-needed publicity in a media that largely ignores the politically extreme BNP, and won some new members to its cause. By there were disturbing signs of a far-right revival in Britain. In the general election the BNP took 16 per cent of the vote in Oldham. This was followed by violent disturbances in Oldham, Burnley and Bradford, in part stimulated by the activities of the BNP and other far-right organisations.

Liberal opinion was bewildered, alarmed and uncomprehending. While it is too early to assess these developments fully, some factors appear salient, and were identified as such in a series of reports on the riots published in December The economic stagnation of much of urban England, especially in the former textile towns of northern England, was identified as a major cause of racial and other social problems. In the local government elections the BNP won three council seats in Burnley, a small but significant number of the seats they contested.

These BNP results can either be seen as a crushing defeat, as their opponents averred, or, as they themselves claimed, a significant electoral breakthrough in the face of universal hostility from the liberal media.

There has been a failure of the white working class and the deeply traditional Muslim Asian community to integrate with or even understand each other. Both white and Asian youths are alienated from society in general and especially among Asian Muslims their elders in particular.

Moreover, many traditional, white, working-class Labour voters plainly believe New Labour is no longer their party and has become middle-class, liberal and overly concerned with the rights of minorities more than with the interests of the working class and the poor. In these circumstances the far right has been able to peddle easy solutions to complex problems. It is too early to decide whether the rise of the far right is a temporary aberration or a significant development.

Past experience suggests that they are unlikely to gain 20 per cent of the vote in any constituency and the electoral system effectively disbars them from parliament. Only a massive economic or political crisis is likely to change this. None the less, the far right have a considerable capacity to provoke conflict and disturbance. Fascist values are rejected as morally alien to the Judeo-Christian and Enlightenment-liberal tradition.

Fascists themselves would not find this a problem, as they are opposed to these traditions as a key element of their philosophy for want of a better word.

Fascism was and is not a coherent ideology. All fascist movements may be said to have all or most of these characteristics: racism, opposition to democracy, to liberalism and to equality, aggressive assertion of the nation-state, dictatorial government under a strong leader and an emphasis on military or quasi-military values.

These values involve obedience, loyalty, order, hierarchy and a cult of violence, physical strength and all the paraphernalia of flags, drums, marching, ceremonies, uniforms, emotionally roused crowds and general political theatricality.

It is easy to get carried away by the threat fascism poses to modern democracies. The possibility of a fascist party coming to power in Britain or any other democracy today is so remote as to be hardly worth worrying about.

Democratic culture in the EU is very strong and deep. However, the fascist right does threaten the rights of ethnic, racial and religious minorities and other groups to live their lives free from abuse and from the threat of violence or of vandalism to their homes and businesses.

Complacency is hardly possible in a continent that produced so much racism, xenophobia and violence during its long and turbulent history — a continent from which fascism sprang as one of its less admirable accomplishments.

However, even if fascist ideas are difficult to present in structured form, fascist values can be fairly easily identified. These include a positive view of conflict, struggle and war; a stress on non-material values, irrationalism and anti-intellectualism; and a glorification of the nation or race.

Obedience to the leader and state are ultimate values, and society and mankind in general are seen very much in hierarchical terms. Fascist economic theory is subordinate to the foregoing. The European experience of fascism of course culminated in a disastrous war and terrible atrocities, and some have argued that fascism ended in However, many of the factors that engendered fascism, such as racism, alienation and moral confusion, are around today, so reports of its demise were perhaps greatly exaggerated.

Eatwell, R. Eatwell and A. Wright eds. Fascism: A History Vintage, Griffin, R. The Nature of Fascism Routledge, Harris, G. Hayes, P. Fascism Allen and Unwin, Heywood, A. Leach, R. British Political Ideologies Prentice Hall, Merkl, P. Spiller, J. Thurlow, R. Fascism in Britain Blackwell, Vincent, A. Vincent, Modern Political Ideologies Blackwell, , pp. Wilford, R. Eccleshall et al. Series: Understandings. This book critically examines the range of policies and programmes that attempt to manage economic activity that contributes to political violence.

Beginning with an overview of over a dozen policies aimed at transforming these activities into economic relationships which support peace, not war, the book then offers a sustained critique of the reasons for limited success in this policy field.

The inability of the range of international actors involved in this policy area, the Development-Security Industry DSI , to bring about more peaceful political-economic relationships is shown to be a result of liberal biases, resulting conceptual lenses and operational tendencies within this industry.

A detailed case study of responses to organised crime in Kosovo offers an in-depth exploration of these problems, but also highlights opportunities for policy innovation. This book offers a new framework for understanding both the problem of economic activity that accompanies and sometimes facilitates violence and programmes aimed at managing these forms of economic activity. Summaries of key arguments and frameworks, found within each chapter, provide accessible templates for both students and aid practitioners seeking to understand war economies and policy reactions in a range of other contexts.

It also offers insight into how to alter and improve policy responses in other cases. As such, the book is accessible to a range of readers, including students interested in peace, conflict and international development as well as policy makers and practitioners seeking new ways of understanding war economies and improving responses to them. Despite the imperative for change in a world of persistent inequality, racism, oppression and violence, difficulties arise once we try to bring about a transformation.

As scholars, students and activists, we may want to change the world, but we are not separate, looking in, but rather part of the world ourselves. The book demonstrates that we are not in control: with all our academic rigour, we cannot know with certainty why the world is the way it is, or what impact our actions will have.

It asks what we are to do, if this is the case, and engages with our desire to seek change. Chapters scrutinise the role of intellectuals, experts and activists in famine aid, the Iraq war, humanitarianism and intervention, traumatic memory, enforced disappearance, and the Grenfell Tower fire, and examine the fantasy of security, contemporary notions of time, space and materiality, and ideas of the human and sentience.

The book argues that although we might need to traverse the fantasy of certainty and security, we do not need to give up on hope. This book deals with the institutional framework in post-socialist, after-empire spaces. It consists of nine case studies and two contributions of a more theoretical nature.

Each of these analytical narratives sheds some light on the micro-politics of organised violence. After , Serbs and Croats were competing over access to the resources needed for institution building and state building. Fear in turn triggered ethnic mobilisation. An 'unprofessional' riot of Serbs in the Krajina region developed into a professional war between Serbs and Croats in Croatia, in which several thousand died and several hundred thousand people were forcefully expelled from their homes.

The Herceg-Bosnian style of resistance can be surprisingly effective. It is known that most of the heroin transported along the Balkans route passes through the hands of Albanian mafia groups; that this traffic has taken off since summer The concept of Staatnation is based on the doctrine according to which each 'nation' must have its own territorial State and each State must consist of one 'nation' only.

The slow decline and eventual collapse of the Soviet and the Yugoslav empires was partly triggered, partly accompanied by the quest for national sovereignty. Dagestan is notable for its ethnic diversity and, even by post-Soviet standards, its dramatic economic deprivation. The integrative potential of cooperative movements at the republican, the regional and the inter-state level for the Caucasus is analyzed.

How is fascism defined? Robert Paxton, a professor emeritus of social science at Columbia University in New York, who is widely considered the father of fascism studies, told Live Science that fascism is "a form of political practice distinctive to the 20th century that arouses popular enthusiasm by sophisticated propaganda techniques. Historically, fascists have opposed modernization "if that term means liberalism, democracy, Marxism, individualism, and feminism," said historian Chris Wright, an adjunct assistant professor at City University of New York.

On the other hand, fascists have favorited modernization "if the term means technological and economic advancement, military superiority, efficiency, and the glorification of speed and machines," Wright wrote in the essay " Reflections on Fascism ," published on ResearchGate in , which has not yet been peer-reviewed. Related: Who was Karl Marx?

Fascism, however, promotes the concept of innate inequality and inescapable social hierarchies between groups, Burley said. Underlying this hierarchy is the idea that a person's rank in society is determined by aspects of identity that are beyond their control, such as ethnicity or gender, Burley explained. Fascism always takes on the individual characteristics of the country it is in, leading to very different regimes. For instance, Paxton wrote in "The Five Stages of Fascism" that "religion … would play a much greater role in authentic fascism in the United States" than it would in the more secular Europe.

Further complicating matters, nonfascist governments have often mimicked elements of fascist regimes to give the appearance of force and national vitality, Paxton said. For example, mass mobilizations of citizens in colored shirts do not automatically equate to a fascist political practice, he said. The prevalence of the word "fascism" in common vernacular also causes definitional problems.

In recent years, the term "is used more often as a political insult than as a historically-informed analytical term," according to The Lowy Institute , an Australian think tank in Sydney. And while all fascist movements are far right, not all far right movements are fascist, Burley said. Related: What is antifa? Unlike most other political, social or ethical philosophies — such as communism, capitalism, conservatism, liberalism or socialism — fascism does not have a set philosophy.

As Paxton wrote, "There was no 'Fascist Manifesto,' no founding fascist thinker. Though fascism's definition can be elusive, all fascist movements share some core beliefs and actions. Fascism requires some basic allegiances, such as to the nation and to a gatekeeping "master race" or group. The core principle — what Paxton defined as fascism's only definition of morality — is to make the nation stronger, more powerful, larger and more successful.

Since fascists see national strength as the only thing that makes a nation "good," fascists will use any means necessary to achieve that goal. As a result, fascists aim to use the country's assets to increase the country's strength. This often leads to a nationalization of assets, and in this, fascism resembles Marxism — an anti-capitalist economic, philosophical and political framework of beliefs that promote a classless society, according to the Center for the Study of Language and Information at Stanford University in California.

Guided by the principle of extreme nationalism, fascist regimes tend to perform similar actions, though the particulars differ, author George Orwell wrote in his essay " What Is Fascism? Fascists also excel at propaganda, using it as a tool to scapegoat certain groups; however, those groups may differ from country to country.

For instance, the Nazi regime demonized Jews and other ethnic minorities, such as the Romani people, while Mussolini's Italian regime targeted Bolsheviks — radical, far-left Marxists.

Mussolini worked regularly with Jews, and his mistress, Margherita Sarfatti, was Jewish, though she later converted to Catholicism. Because of Mussolini's alliance with Hitler, he did eventually incorporate antisemitic components into his regime, and Sarfatti fled Italy in after Mussolini began passing antisemitic legislation, according to the Jewish Women's Archive.

But overall, Mussolini differed from Hitler on the subject of biological racism. Related: What are the different types of governments?

Paxton also said that fascism is based more on feelings than philosophical ideas which may explain why fascism can be hard to define. In his essay " The Five Stages of Fascism ," published in in the Journal of Modern History, he defined seven "mobilizing passions" for fascist regimes. They are:. Once in power, "fascist dictatorships suppressed individual liberties, imprisoned opponents, forbade strikes, authorized unlimited police power in the name of national unity and revival, and committed military aggression," Paxton wrote.

Mussolini's fascism mixed extreme nationalist expansion with social programs like women's suffrage and workers' rights, accumulating power by forming alliances with conservatives and existing government factions. Before , the word "fascism" popped up mostly in history lessons or political analysis of autocratic states or the occasional terror group. But President Donald Trump's years in office have seen a surge in "fascism" talk from both supporters and opponents using the word to describe their political adversaries.

Can all of them be right? Of course not. Before you think about using the term yourself, here's what you should know about what "fascism" really means… and what it doesn't. Fascism is generally defined as a political movement that embraces far-right nationalism and the forceful suppression of any opposition, all overseen by an authoritarian government.

Fascists strongly oppose Marxism, liberalism and democracy, and believe the state takes precedence over individual interests. They favor centralized rule, often a single party or leader, and embrace the idea of a national rebirth, a new greatness for their country.

Economic self-sufficiency is prized, often through state-controlled companies. Youth, masculinity and strength are highly fetishized. The first modern fascist parties emerged in the aftermath of World War I. The ideology swept through Italy — the birthplace of the term — then Germany and other parts of Europe.

German intellectual Johann Plenge expected that class divisions would disappear in favor of "racial comrades," and that the future of Germany lay in "national socialism. The movement gave birth to infamous strongmen such as Adolph Hitler in Germany and Italy's Benito Mussolini , who, like many fascists, saw violence — violent revolution of governments, violent punishment of opponents — as key factors in fascism.

Fascists also tend to embrace imperialism and the conquering of weaker nations. Mussolini was especially impressed with the ambitious expansion and militarism of ancient Rome. Hitler, an early admirer of Mussolini and his tactics, modeled his Nazi party on Italy's fascism in the s.