Scerri Review of Roberto Behemoth.S&D.33(2)

Contemporary Political Theory, 2019

Society

This paper's central concern is with signs of fascism in recent political developments in a number of European countries and the United States. It takes the reader back to earlier periods in European and American history when this same anguished question was raised. Thus a longer intellectual history of concerns about the viability of democratic systems is drawn to guide us in our current political evaluations.

Economic and Political Weekly, 2018

The spectre of fascism has continued to haunt political thinking even though original fascism was decisively defeated within a decade. Given the very specific historical conditions in which fascism arose in Europe, whether the term “fascism” significantly applies to more recent forms of authoritarian rule is questionable. Facile reference to the handy historical precedence of European fascism inhibits a genuine understanding of the material conditions that cause authoritarian regimes in the neo-liberal era. More disturbingly, the impressionistic mention of fascism might divert attention from the real issues of resistance to neo-liberalism.

Anche nell'ultimo anno si sono moltiplicati i segnali di scomposizione del mondo politico, economico e istituzionale concepito alla fine della Seconda guerra mondiale e definitivamente liberato dalla fine della guerra fredda. Intanto, l'avvento di Donald Trump alla presidenza degli Stati Uniti ha introdotto un'inedita tensione tra gli Usa e l'ordine internazionale da loro stessi prodotto. Più in generale, la crescita della Cina e la rinnovata assertività della Russia sembrano preludere a una nuova fase del riflusso dell'impatto occidentale sul resto del Mondo. Soprattutto, una variegata contestazione di legittimità ha investito lo stesso orientamento liberale dell'ordine post-bipolare, con conseguenze sempre più profonde sulla tenuta del tessuto multilaterale della convivenza internazionale, delle organizzazioni internazionali e persino dell'assetto istituzionale dei singoli stati. Il Rapporto ISPI 2019 s'interroga su questo sconvolgimento, tanto nella dimensione politica quanto in quella economica. La prima parte del volume è dedicata al contesto globale e ai suoi contraccolpi sull'Europa, mentre la seconda si rivolge come di consueto alla politica estera italiana. euro 15,00 ISPI REPORT 2019 GLOBAL SCENARIOS AND ITALY THE END OF A WORLD THE DECLINE OF THE LIBERAL ORDER edited by A. Colombo and P. Magri conclusion by G. Massolo L'ISPI è un think tank indipendente dedicato allo studio delle dinamiche politiche ed economiche internazionali fondato nel 1934. È l'unico istituto italiano-e tra i pochissimi in Europa-ad affiancare all'attività di ricerca un significativo impegno nella formazione, nella convegnistica e nell'analisi dei rischi e delle opportunità a livello mondiale per le imprese e le istituzioni. L'ISPI privilegia un approccio interdisciplinare e "policy-oriented" reso possibile da un team di ricerca di oltre 50 analisti e può inoltre contare su un network internazionale di 70 università, think tank e centri di ricerca. Nella classifica redatta dall'Università di Pennsylvania, l'ISPI si è posizionato al primo posto al mondo tra i "Think Tank to Watch" nel 2018.

The People vs. Democracy (2018) by political analyst Yascha Mounk is a brilliant book about how liberalism has become separate from democracy. Liberals have become less democratic while illiberal politicians have. One example, mentioned in the book is the Hungarian prime minister Victor Orban, who started out as a liberal democrat and ended up as a right-wing populist/nationalist politician, who disregards or even disrespect liberal values and minorities. One thing you can't hold against Orban is that he is anti-democratic, as he has the full support of the majority of his people. And this is true for many populist politicians. They love referenda, being fully aware that the majority will vote in a right-wing spirit when it comes to issues such as immigration and refugees. Have no misconception, extreme right-wing leaders are NEVER democratic, they just can afford to be. You can't accuse them of being anti-democratic, because they often do have the majority of the population behind them in their xenophobia and anti-diversity attitude. However, it's not hard to accuse them of hypocrisy: while they promise to rid the people of politicians who work in the interest of their in-groups, they do the same, and their in-groups are often even narrower. In 2019 the Austrian far-right Freedom Party suffered a major setback in what has become known as Ibiza-gate. A video surfaced that showed clearly the massive amount of corruption within the party. More than right-wing politicians far-right-wing politicians have always prioritized their own interests over the people's, may their names be Trump, Berlusconi, or Liberals, on the other hand, are increasingly horrified to see how liberal values are quickly being eroded by the choices voters make and are becoming more and more divided. Some

In the 1950's a series of Congresses for Cultural Freedom where held around Europe, attended by intellectuals with various liberal ideas. They defended liberalism on the assumption that it was non-ideological and that anti-liberal political thinkers were all ideologists. They said that liberalism was a natural evolution of human kind, that it was the ultimate Good while anything else was Evil and they went on professing a noble mission: the globalization of Democracy. As the Italian journalist Massimo Fini said in one of his books, “the liberals have now invented the Homo democraticus”.1 It was later discovered that this conferences were financed by the CIA and this, together with the renaissance of student ideology in the 1960s, contributed to the downfall of such ideas; indeed there is nothing “natural” about liberalism as it is only one ideology among others.2 Today's analysts reject the idea of liberalism being the Good tout court of humanity, but still this doesn't discourage the USA, the den of liberal thought, from trying to export democracy in those 'rude' enough countries that don't seem to be interested. We can truly talk in this sense, of a “totalitarian democracy”.

George Washington University Illiberalism Studies eBook Series, 2024

While it is clear what those attracted to fascism today are against, it is less clear what they are for. Not in the sense of how they want to remake society—this is usually clear enough. What is less clear is the fundamental values that are driving their desire to create a different kind of order. Compounding this difficulty, too many liberals are stubbornly sticking to some conventional beliefs: that human nature is as liberals think it is, not something that is fundamentally disputed; that facts are what liberals think they are, even if some people choose to ignore them; and that everybody is pursuing basically the same conception of the good, even if some of them are deluded as to where we are now and how to get where we want to go. But this move to the right is not being driven simply by mistakes; it is a principled move, backed by a coherent, consistent, and historically well-sourced value system, even if this value system is perverse. Fascism has its own conception of the moral subject; of the need for a rigid social hierarchy of men; of the nature of individual rights; and of the importance of purity in blood, soil, and ideology. It believes in the unity of the people, the leader, and the state; it embraces very different and (to liberals) often disturbing moral ends; and it employs starkly different rules of social interaction. And it believes, in the end, that this all leads to the greatest expression of democracy ever invented.

"The View From Here" Blog, 2014

On the Road to Darkness: Thoughts on the Fascist Disease Infecting Western Society Author: Fareed Khan Date: Mar. 24, 2014 http://theviewfromhere-fareedkhan.blogspot.ca/2014/03/on-road-to-darkness-thoughts-on-fascist.html Civil Liberties, Participatory Democracy, Democratic Decay, Edward Snowden, Electoral Reform, Fascism, Government Surveillance, Human Rights, Julian Assange, Neo-Fascism, Political Revolution, Social Justice, Voter Suppression, Western Democracy" Research Interests: Social Justice, Social Justice and Human rights, Political Revolution, Julian Assange, Human Rights and Social Justice, Human Rights, Government Surveillance, Fascism, Neo-Fascism, Electoral Reform, Edward Snowden, Democratic Decay, Participatory Democracy, Civil Society and Human Rights, and Human Rights and Civil Liberties

Cuadernos del Cendes, 2019