ABSTRACT
The political geography of fascist party membership in Italy and Germany can be explained on the basis of rational calculations of individual actors. This chapter argues that individuals' decisions to join the fascist party were shaped by their perception of the party's ability to redress their grievances, the opportunities available to them to join the party, the party's control over the distribution of desirable excludable goods, and the solidarity of individuals' social networks. The perception that the fascist party could redress people's grievances appears to have played a crucial role in explaining the attachment of a sizable proportion of northern Italy's population to the Italian fascist party. Those peasants who saw benefits in the capitalist expansion of agriculture and who saw the socialist leagues as the principal threat to their hopes found satisfaction in the fascist agrarian program. These peasants tended to reside in areas such as the Po Valley.
