Fascism: Lessons from the Twentieth Century

About this course:

In recent years, concern has grown across the world about a resurgence in fascism in countries as diverse as Hungary, Poland, Brazil, India, Turkey and the United States. Fascist tropes, styles and ideological leanings have burst back into the public square. A new despotism has emerged, which uses the trappings of democracy to cultivate a mass psychology similar to and yet different from fascism. In this course, we examine four specific cases from the 20th century to better ground participants in how to look at what is happening now. These include Mussolini’s Italy, Hitler’s Germany, Francisco Franco’s Spain and Vichy France.