ABSTRACT
The word ‘fascist’ is often used as a word of abuse. Fascists are seen as people who act in authoritarian ways and seek to impose their views and values on others, but fascism is more complicated than this. First because fascism needs to be more precisely defined, and second, the question arises as to whether it is a movement of the past, or can it be said that fascist movements still exist today? Everyone has heard of Hitler (1889-1945) but Hitler called his party the National Socialist German Workers’ Party: can he still be called a fascist? Not many movements have come to power since 1945 that can unambiguously be called fascist – but can we describe movements in these terms when they do not necessarily declare themselves in favour of Hitler or the founder of Italian fascism, Mussolini?
