Politics

Griffin explored the mythic core of fascism with his concept of post-fascism to explore the continuation of Nazism in the modern era

Other historians have applied this minimalist core to explore proto-fascist movements

Cas Mudde and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser argue that although fascism flirted with populism in an attempt to generate mass support it is better seen as an elitist ideology

They see populism as a thin-centered ideology with a restricted morphology that necessarily becomes attached to thick-centered ideologies such as fascism liberalism or socialism

Descriptions neo-fascist post-fascist are sometimes applied to contemporary parties with ideologies similar to or rooted in 20th-century fascist movements

Griffin and Roger Eatwell developed Payne's understanding defining their theories as the new consensus in fascist studies

Griffin distinguishes an inter-war period in which fascism manifested itself in elite-led but populist armed party politics opposing socialism and liberalism promising radical politics to rescue the nation from decadence

Eatwell defines fascism as an ideology that strives to forge social rebirth based on a holistic-national radical Third Way

Fascism is an ideology that draws on old ancient and even arcane myths of racial cultural ethnic and national origins to develop a plan for the new man

Jason Stanley defined fascism as a cult of the leader who promises national restoration in the face of humiliation brought on by supposed communists Marxists and minorities and immigrants who are supposedly posing a threat to the character and the history of a nation the leader proposes that only he can solve it and all of his political opponents are enemies or traitors

Stanley says recent global events including the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020–2022 United States racial unrest have substantiated his concern about how fascist rhetoric is showing up in politics and policies around the world

They cite in particular fascism's exaltation of the Leader the race and the state rather than the people

War resulted in rise of powerful state capable of mobilizing millions of people to serve on front lines providing logistics to support them having unprecedented authority to intervene in lives of citizens

Military citizenship arose in which all citizens were involved with military in some manner

First fascist movements emerged in Italy during World War I before spreading to other European countries Germany

Fascism had adherents outside Europe

Advent of total war mass mobilization of society erased distinction between civilians combatants

Fascism emphasizes both palingenesis modernity when deemed compatible with national rebirth

Fascism may also centre around ingroup-outgroup opposition

In case of Nazism this involved racial purity master race which blended with variant of racism discrimination against demonized "Other" such as Jews other groups