Abstract

What were the mechanisms through which fascism triumphed in Europe during the interwar period? According to Robert O. Paxton, this is the question one must ask in order to understand the real nature of Mussolini's and Hitler's political regimes. In fact, with “fascism,” Paxton adopts a category from political science that includes characteristics shared by both Italian Fascism and German National Socialism. Paxton aims at constructing this category on the basis of a descriptive study of the world in which the Mussolinian and Hitlerian movements concretely established themselves in their respective societies. Particularly, according to Paxton, we must examine fascism…