Charisma and Fascism in Interwar Europe

Description

Fascism remains a topic that fascinates both academic and general audiences. This is the first book to look systematically at the leaders of fascism and related movements in the inter-war era. It shows how fascist leaders came to personify their movements and why the Führeprinzip was applied in all fascist organizations. It also explains how fascist leadership was of a very particular kind: It was almost unlimited in political discipline and required complete subordination. The legitimacy was based on a very vague notion of 'the organic unity of the state and the people', giving the leaders competence to rule without accountability to a party organization or state bodies. Thus, we can observe in all fascist parties/movements a practical form of leadership where policies of 'split and rule' were common in absence of principles of representation and opposition feedbacks. The fascist führer was the leader, the party, the ideology - and when in power: the state itself. This book was previously published as a special issue of Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Contributors Glossary and Abbreviations Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction: New Styles of Dictatorship and Leadership in Interwar Europe Part 1: Approaching Charisma 1 The Concept and Theory of Charismatic Leadership 2 Hitler, Charisma and Structure: Reflections on Historical Methodology Part 2: The Leaders 3 The Model of Charismatic Leadership and its Applicability to the Rule of Adolf Hitler 4 Franco, the Spanish Falange and the Institutionalisation of Mission 5 ‘Chaos’ and ‘Order’: Preto, Salazar and Charismatic Appeal in Inter-war Portugal 6 Charisma and Hybrid Legitimacy in Pétain’s État français (1940-44) 7 Ante Paveli Charisma and National Mission in Wartime Croatia 8 Charisma from below? The Quisling Case in Norway 9 Codreanu, Romanian National Traditions and Charisma 10 Mussolini as the Prototypical Charismatic Dictator Conclusion: Fascism, Dictators and Charisma Index