Fascism in Europe Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Fascism in Europe - Term Paper Example Initially, fascism in Europe was associated with political personalities, leaders and parties. It is said to be founded by Benito Mussolini in Italy it influenced other politicians across the continent. It was further embraced by Adolf Hitler in Germany and Francisco in Spain. Fascism has been given some several definitions and some are discussed in this paper. Michael Mann (13) describes fascism as â€Å"the act of pursuing of an excellent (transcendent) and cleansing state using the military†. In this definition, transcendence means the belief that a state surpasses social conflicts and integrates all classes in society into one harmonious thing. It involves a political belief that political ideologies can surpass human understanding to produce an improved society. It involves a political belief that political ideologies can surpass human understanding to produce an improved society. According to Mann (1), cleansing in this meaning is concerned with ethnicity whereby, it is the favoring of one ethnic group over others. This can be done by giving special privileges to one group over others. Cleansing can be used politically whereby it involves silencing political opponents using oppressive measures so that fascism is facilitated. Fascism in the above meaning by Mann involves the conviction that the state can do anything it pleases. Paradigm involves undue influence of opponent by using armed forces. Fascism is described as a political behavior marked by amended cults of unity, purity and energy, in which a party consisting of many committed nationalists, working in difficult but collaborative form with traditional elites, abandon democratic liberations and engages in redeeming violence without ethical or legal limitations objectives of internal cleansing and expansion externally. In addition, fascism is described as military movement that created emphasis on loyalty and obedience to a state through the state leader. Unlike other ideologies such as commi ssion and nationalism, fascism had extremes of both communism and nationalism. Relationship between fascism, socialism and communism Fascism is closely associated with socialism and communism and is said to have originated and developed from the two. This is analyzed in the form of similarities and differences between the three sing the cases of Italy and Germany. The concept of socialism developed around 1800 Brian Marshall (6) highlights that socialism involves governance by a community whereby it controls all aspects of the economy. Furthermore, socialism is the system of economy whereby methods of production and distribution are collectively owned by the central government, which is mandated to plan, and control the economy. Moreover, socialism focused on social welfare of all the people in a society and did not focus on individualism. It advocated for co-operation between members of a society, and it did not encourage any political structures in the society. On the other hand, communism can be traced back to the works of Karl Maxx who coined the ideology of Marxism. According to Marshall (2), communism begun with ancient society supported by hunters, gatherers, and developed into feudalism, capitalism then to communism. In addition, communism is an economic philosophy whereby, the public owns and controls the methods of produc