Summary
Highlights
Professor Ben-Ghiat defines fascism as a one-party state with an all-powerful dictator, characterized by a lack of separation of powers and independent judiciary. Coined by Mussolini, fascism infiltrates all aspects of life, suppresses independent organizations like trade unions, and is intrinsically linked to expansionism, imperialism, and violence against perceived 'enemies'—racial or political.
Dictators, following Mussolini's lead, use their bodies as emblems of strength and project a 'macho' image. This creates an atmosphere of 'lawless masculinity' and misogyny, as seen in Berlusconi's Italy, leading to increased domestic violence and hate crimes against women. Dictators are defined by their desire for absolute power, corruption, manipulation through propaganda, and the dismantling of independent institutions to consolidate their authority.
Authoritarianism is a political system often synonymous with dictatorship. While it can manifest as civilian or military dictatorships, autocracy is another term for political systems where leaders maintain power regardless of public opinion, contrasting with democracies where leadership reflects the will of the people.
Dictators maintain power by discrediting journalists, labeling them as 'fake news,' and disseminating a 'firehose of falsehood'—a high volume of lies, half-truths, and conspiracy theories. They also create an atmosphere of terror and intimidation, using physical violence, lawsuits, and smear campaigns to encourage self-censorship.
Both fascist and communist dictatorships share characteristics like an all-powerful leader and propaganda. The key difference lies in their targets: fascists primarily target leftists, anti-communists, and socialists, while communists target 'counter-revolutionaries' who threaten the revolution's progress.
Dictators are typically narcissistic, charismatic, and paranoid. They surround themselves with loyalists and family members, forming an 'inner sanctum,' often leading to isolation and poor decision-making, as seen with Putin's invasion of Ukraine. They prioritize power preservation above all, making alliances based on opportunism rather than ideology.
Dictators cultivate giant egos and use personality cults to appear both as 'men of the people' and 'men above all men,' untouchable and god-like. Statues, rituals, and constant reminders (like the 'Heil Hitler' salute) are used to establish omnipresence, ensuring the dictator is woven into every social interaction, signifying submission.
Dictators can come to power through appointment (like Mussolini and Hitler), initially through elections and then accumulating power (like Putin), or most commonly through coups (about 75% of 20th-century authoritarian regimes). A 'self-coup' occurs when an incumbent leader refuses to leave office after losing an election or trying to avoid impeachment, as attempted by Donald Trump and seen in Venezuela, South Korea, and Peru.
Many dictatorships criminalize abortion and pressure women to have more children for the state, often tied to fantasies of national purity or increasing the 'right kind' of population. Women's bodily autonomy is systematically stripped away, and reproductive rights are rolled back as part of a broader attack on designated 'enemies' of strongmen regimes.
People support dictators because dictators are skilled at posing as saviors, exploiting or creating crises, and presenting themselves as the sole solution. They use narratives, often based on fear and xenophobia (e.g., immigrants as threats), to justify national purity campaigns and convince people that only strong authoritarian leadership can ensure safety and order.
Dictators use rallies as opportunities for performance, generating adulation and demonstrating mass loyalty. Historically, figures like Hitler thrived on crowd energy, and modern authoritarians continue this practice to reinforce their image of strength and ensure public displays of submission.
The internet is a double-edged tool: it can empower dissidents with new audiences but also allows dictators to centralize and speed up propaganda circulation. Savvy authoritarians have always adopted the latest media technology (newsreels, radio, holograms, social media) to their advantage, massively increasing the volume and reach of their messages.
Modern authoritarians like Victor Orban practice 'electoral autocracy,' maintaining elections but manipulating the system through media control, judicial influence, and electoral apparatus to guarantee desired outcomes. They also use methods like promoting specific demographics (e.g., white Christians) and persecuting LGBTQ+ individuals, mirroring aspects of classic fascism within a multi-party system.
There is no such thing as a 'benevolent dictator' because by definition, a dictator represses popular will, eliminates free press, and imprisons or kills opponents. These actions are incompatible with benevolence.
Today's 'authoritarians' hold elections but rig the system by controlling media, jailing opponents (like Alexi Navalny), and refusing to recognize unfavorable results. This 'electoral autocracy' allows them to maintain a semblance of legitimacy while ensuring they retain power, as demonstrated by Maduro, Bolsonaro, and Trump.
Professor Ben-Ghiat describes Elon Musk's actions at Twitter as a unique form of 'digital coup.' Unlike traditional military coups, a private citizen used a group of coders as 'shock troops' to take control of data and effectively shut down government agency access, deeming it a coup when unelected individuals block elected officials from their government buildings.
Oligarchs aid authoritarians by shaping the political environment and legitimizing leaders. However, these 'authoritarian bargains' are precarious; dictators inevitably discard oligarchs once their usefulness is over, seizing assets, jailing them, or even orchestrating their deaths, as seen in Putin's Russia with 'sudden Russian death syndrome.'
Dictators often portray themselves as 'good for the nation' through grandiose infrastructure projects (e.g., Mussolini's railroads, Hitler's Autobahn). While these projects might appear to bring modernity, the lack of a free press conceals corruption and economic mismanagement, revealing negative long-term consequences only later.
Dictators are transactional; their 'love' for figures like Trump is pragmatic. They see him as a potential ally from whom they can benefit, even while secretly mocking him. This illustrates how dictators use each other for strategic gain.
Dictators create 'existential dread' by constantly blaming external enemies—media, opposition, foreign countries, terrorist groups. They promote 'survivalism,' portraying conflict as an 'us or them' scenario, often leading to attacks, removal, and even genocide of targeted groups. They use narratives of historical victimization to justify expansionist policies, as seen with Mussolini, Xi Jinping, and Putin.
Dictators and aspiring dictators always seek more land and power, driven by corruption, a desire for natural resources, and nationalist myths of 'blood and soil' or 'national unification.' This imperialist tendency justifies invasions, exemplified by Hitler in Austria, Xi Jinping's claims on Taiwan, and Putin's actions in Ukraine, echoing visions of expansion even from figures like Trump regarding Canada and Greenland.