fascist

Fascism is a political ideology and movement that emerged in the early 20th century in Europe, centering on ultranationalism, centralized authority, and a rejection of liberal democracy and pluralism. The term derives from fasces, the bundled rods carried by lictors in ancient Rome. Italian fascism, founded by Benito Mussolini after World War I, established a one-party state that claimed to unify the nation and restore strength. A hallmark was a single, charismatic leader and a disciplined, militarized society organized to subordinate individual interests to the state and the nation. The economy was directed through state planning and corporatist organization, while private property persisted under heavy state control.

Fascist regimes typically exercised extensive censorship and political intimidation, used police or para-military forces, promoted propaganda, militarism, and aggressive foreign policy. They promoted an idealized national myth, often coupled with xenophobia or racial ideologies, and sought to suppress opposition across political spectrums. The doctrine combined anti-liberal, anti-socialist, and anti-democratic positions with an emphasis on order, unity, and national destiny.

Beyond Italy, fascist movements influenced various regimes across Europe; Nazi Germany is commonly described as a fascist regime or as a variant of fascism, with additional racist and genocidal dimensions. The term is used by scholars to describe other authoritarian nationalist movements sharing core traits, though definitions vary.

After 1945 fascist regimes were dismantled, and fascism remains primarily a historical term and analytic category. It is also used in contemporary discourse to describe certain ultranationalist or authoritarian tendencies, a use that prompts ongoing definitional debate.