Fascism and Authoritarian Populism
Liaison Faculty Members
Charles Thorpe, Professor, Department of Sociology
Wendy Matsumura, Associate Professor, Department of History
Faculty Group Members
Karl Gerth, Department of History
Isaac Martin, Department of Sociology
Luis Martin-Cabrera, Department of Literature
Gershon Shafir, Department of Sociology
Graduate Student Members
Davide Carpano, Sociology
Veronica Uribe del Aguilar, Communication
Dorothy Howard, Communication
Troy Araiza Kokinis, History
Cecelia Opatken-Ringdal, History
Goals and Themes
The post-2016 era has seen the reinvigoration of studies of fascism that attempt to theorize and understand the rise to power of counter-revolutionary regimes globally. This working group proposes to foster inter-disciplinary and inter-divisional conversations around this phenomena that explicitly focus on the political economy of fascism. We begin from a shared understanding that, while psychoanalytic and/or psychological analyses are important, a focus on political economy will enable us to have nuanced, historically informed and politically relevant discussions about fascism’s presents that do not privilege any single locale as the site of/for theorization. We therefore begin with trying to understand what political-economic analyses of fascism and authoritarian populism can explain and to what extent the rise of such movements can be explained by large-scale economic shifts and crises. This is with a view to exploring other dimensions of fascism and authoritarianism in future years, including its social psychology and relationship to culture and identity.
Our concern with fascism and authoritarian populism responds to the recent rise to prominence of far-right movements and regimes, including Golden Dawn in Greece, UKIP in Britain, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the Donald Trump Presidency in the US, Jair Bolsonaro as President of Brazil, Victor Orban’s government in Hungary, Andrzej Duda as President of Poland, and Rodrigo Duterte as President of the Philippines, and the recent entry into the Spanish parliament of the far-right Vox party.
To what extent does the term ‘fascist’ apply to such politicians and movements? Is ‘authoritarian populism,’ a term first applied by Stuart Hall to the politics of Margaret Thatcher, more applicable? Is a term like ‘post-fascist’ helpful in indicating differences from the classic twentieth century examples of Italy, Germany, Japan, and Spain? Many (though not all) of these governments and movements arose after the 2008 financial crisis and we seek to understand to what extent these movements can be understood as reactions to that crisis. More generally, the resurgence of the far right takes place in the context of neoliberal globalization and financialization, and resultant increasing global economic turbulence. It also occurs as the geo-political order established after World War Two appears to be in the process of breaking down as US economic and geo-political power weakens and as the integrity of the European Union is threatened by centrifugal nationalist forces. Have America’s wars in the Middle East, generating terrorism and fear of terrorism, undermining liberal-democratic norms domestically and
internationally, and creating the largest refugee crisis since World War Two, provided fuel for the far-right? To what extent does the re-emergence of the far right correspond with, and further drive forward, the breakdown of the post-war political-economic international order?
