Fascism and Ideology : Italy, Britain, and Norway

This book examines the struggle between the revolutionary and conservative strands found within fascism, analysing how each faction tried to influence its movement’s programs, and studying the ways in which both strands fought their battles for ideological supremacy. It challenges the dominant view that fascism ought to be understood as a fully revolutionary phenomenon, arguing instead that while one can propose generic definitions of fascism, it is impossible to define it as either wholly revolutionary or wholly conservative, and the constant inner tension between radicalism/totalitarianism and conservatism/authoritarianism constitutes one of fascism''s defining features.

This book develops a number of new conceptual tools to tackle some of the most hotly debated issues concerning the nature of fascism, using three profoundly different national contexts in the inter-war years as case studies: Italy, Britain and Norway. It explores how fascist ideology was the result of a sustained struggle between competing internal factions, which created a precarious, but also highly dynamic, balance between revolutionary/totalitarian and conservative/authoritarian tendencies. Such a balance meant that these movements were hybrids with a surprising degree of internal diversity, which cannot be explained away as simple opportunism or lack of ideological substance. The book''s focus on fascist ideology''s internal variety and aggregative potential leads it to argue that when fascism "succeeded," this was less an effect of its revolutionary ideas, than of the opposite – namely, its power to integrate elements from other pre-existing ideologies. Given the prevailing opinion that fascism is revolutionary by definition, the book ultimately poses a challenge to the dominant view in the field of fascist studies.