An authoritarian nationalist ideology that glorifies the state or race, suppresses opposition, and mobilizes society through mass organization and propaganda is known as fascism. It arose in early twentieth-century Europe and is most closely associated with Mussolini’s Italy and, in a racialized form, Hitler’s Germany.

Fascist movements rejected both liberal democracy and Marxist socialism. They emphasized hierarchy, struggle, and the leadership principle. Once in power they dismantled independent institutions, controlled culture and education, and pursued aggressive foreign policies. The human cost of fascist regimes, especially the Nazi variant, remains a central warning in political memory.

Scholars debate the precise boundaries of the term and its applicability to later movements. Core features include ultranationalism, disdain for democratic pluralism, and the fusion of state and party power. Understanding fascism continues to matter for recognizing authoritarian patterns that recycle similar themes in new contexts.

The defeat of the Axis powers in 1945 discredited fascism as a governing model, yet its ideological fragments periodically reappear.