Fascism
The ultranationalist, authoritarian, anti-democratic political movement that arose in interwar Europe — most fully realized in Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany.
Origin
Benito Mussolini coined the term in 1919 from fascio, an Italian word for a bundle, ultimately from the Roman fasces — the ceremonial bundle of rods carried by lictors as a symbol of state authority. The Italian Fascist Party took power in 1922. Fascism's core mix: extreme nationalism, charismatic dictatorship, glorification of violence and a mythic past, hostility to liberalism and the left, corporate-state economics, and (in the German case) racial supremacy. Defeated militarily in 1945; the label has been radioactive ever since. Whether any modern movement counts as 'fascist' — vs. 'far-right populist' or 'authoritarian' — is one of the central debates in modern political science.
Modern usage
The most weaponized political insult in English. Used carefully by historians (Robert Paxton, Umberto Eco's 'Ur-Fascism') and loosely by everyone else. 'Godwin's law' — that every long internet argument eventually compares someone to Hitler — names the resulting inflation. The black-shirt aesthetic and the raised-arm salute are universal visual shorthand and forbidden in several countries.
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