The factory of illusions in the ‘Third Rome’:Circus Maximus as a space of fascist simulation

Although the site of the ancient Circus Maximus was one of the most loaded spaces of the Fascist ‘Third Rome’, it has received limited attention as a privileged site where a dizzying array of myths and illusions were entertained, simulated, and deposited as new Fascist layers on Rome’s urban and mnemonic palimpsest. Previously a decayed, ‘unsightly’, and overcrowded hodgepodge of layers of life, history, and memory, it was substantially restored, ruthlessly emptied of its previous life, and then used for a multitude of Fascist rituals and projections (parades, celebrations, exhibitions, mass spectacles). In this article, I explore the diverse facets of the circus’s transformation in the 1930s and argue that the site was used as a prime space of enacting and simulating the full thrust of the Fascist regime’s regenerative repertoire, involving erasure and disruption of layers of the past, new additive elements and spatial practices, as well as a multitude of projections of a decidedly modern Fascist new order and temporality

Fascist expansionism: between ideological visions and foreign policy-making: a study of territorial expansion in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany

The debate on the expansionist policies of the Italian and German fascist regimes has been dominated by three questions. First, was the foreign policy of the two regimes programmatic or not? Second, was territorial expansion an ideological- political feature of generic fascism, applicable to both Italy and Germany? Third, was there a continuity or discontinuity between fascist expansionism and the pre- fascist Italian and German expansionist aims? This thesis challenges the rigidity of the above distinctions, arguing instead that the dynamism of fascist expansionism cannot be attributed to one particular element (ideology, domestic structures, international conditions) but originated from a constant interrelation between all these factors. The thesis analyses fascism as a "nationalism plus" phenomenon, which blended radical elements of each country's nationalist tradition with a specific novel commitment to a fascist new order. It aims to test two hypotheses: first, whether fascist expansionism was underpinned by specific "fascist" values; and, second, whether expansionism was a generic feature of fascist ideology and practice. It locates a number of pivotal similar features in the two regimes' ideology and practice, and discusses a series of dissimilarities in their expansionist policies. The thesis argues that these differences cannot be properly understood as derived solely from each leader's personal beliefs or each regime's worldview. They should also be related to chronic features of national traditions and aspirations which fascism assimilated and radicalised rather than produced. In this sense, a conjunction of comparative analysis of the two regimes with a similar analysis of national histories in the longue durée is needed.The thesis examines the three levels in which fascist expansionism was expressed - expansion as ideology; expansion and foreign policy -making; expansion as a joint enterprise for a fascist new order. On the level of ideology, it examines the ideological traditions in the Italian and unification societies and shows how fascist ideology achieved an ideological fusion of pre- existing radical traits in a new synthesis with an increased emphasis on action and a determination to unite reality with utopia. It also studies the expansionist ideologies of the two fascist movements -regimes as coherent systems of thought, with a number of similar underlying features (historic living space, elitism, cult of violence, unity of thought and action) which explain the rigidity and dynamism of the expansionist arguments in Italian and German fascism.On the level of foreign policy- making, the thesis analyses the domestic framework of foreign- policy making and assesses the success of the two regimes' efforts to produce conditions conducive to the realisation of their large -scale expansionist visions. It lays emphasis on the leader- oriented character of the two fascist systems, which led to the relegation of other powerful groups (traditional élites, fascist parties) to a functional status subject to the will of the leader. It also examines the practical forms of the two regimes' expansionist foreign policy (i.e. revisionism, colonialism, irredentism) and shows how ideology provided only a long -term framework for expansion. Lack of clear short- and medium -term strategies rendered the fascist foreign policies extremely flexible and opportunistic, alert to external opportunities and unbound by prior commitments.On the level of interaction, the thesis emphasises the neglected importance of the exclusive relation between the two fascist regimes for the radicalisation of their expansionist policies in the second half of the 1930s. It examines the process of fascism's internationalisation and analyses how both rivalry and co- operation between the two fascist regimes contributed to the radicalisation of their expansionist objectives and policies.War accentuated all the above tendencies and aspirations of the two fascist regimes. In 1940 -41 they embarked upon the realisation of their extreme expansionist visions in a final attempt to unite reality with utopia. Failure, however, to balance means with ends and to achieve an effective form of domestic and international co- ordination transformed an ideological campaign into desperate war -making, pushing fascism to its eventual collapse in 1943 -45

From the fringes to the State: the transformation of the Falange into a State Party

The early years of the Francoist regime saw the rise to power of the Falange Española. A fascist and minority party in the times of the Second Republic, the Falange grew rapidly and exponentially after the outbreak of the war, soon seeing itself at the helm of the single party established in April 1937. The Falange was transformed into a conduit between state and society, and the only channel for the participation of the people in the construction and development of the New State until 1945. This transformation, which owed as much to the civil war and Spanish peculiarities, as to the interactions between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, entailed its necessary bureaucratisation but it did not imply its complete de-politicisation. Therefore, this essay contends, the party’s importance to the construction of the regime cannot be dismissed simply as a failed attempt to instate a fascist dictatorship in Spain. Moreover, if, as Glenda Sluga has argued, the Spanish Civil War was one of ‘the most obvious examples of transnational links in the history of interwar fascism and anti-fascism’, it seems necessary to explore the Spanish case within a broader European context, if we want to properly understand the post-liberal departure of the 1930–1940s

The Factory of Illusions in the ‘Third Rome’

Although the site of the ancient Circus Maximus was one of the most loaded spaces of the Fascist ‘Third Rome’, it has received limited attention as a privileged site where a dizzying array of myths and illusions were entertained, simulated, and deposited as new Fascist layers on Rome’s urban and mnemonic palimpsest. Previously a decayed, ‘unsightly’, and overcrowded hodgepodge of layers of life, history, and memory, it was substantially restored, ruthlessly emptied of its previous life, and then used for a multitude of Fascist rituals and projections (parades, celebrations, exhibitions, mass spectacles). In this article, I explore the diverse facets of the circus’s transformation in the 1930s and argue that the site was used as a prime space of enacting and simulating the full thrust of the Fascist regime’s regenerative repertoire, involving erasure and disruption of layers of the past, new additive elements and spatial practices, as well as a multitude of projections of a decidedly modern Fascist new order and temporality

Neither fascist nor authoritarian:The 4th of August regime in Greece (1936-1941) and the dynamics of fascistisation in 1930s Europe

The 4th of August regime in Greece under Ioannis Metaxas has long been treated by theories of 'generic fascism' as a minor example of authoritarianism or at most a case of failed fascism. This derives from the ideas that the Metaxas dictatorship did not originate from any original mass 'fascist' movement, lacked a genuinely fascist revolutionary ideological core and its figurehead came from a deeply conservative-military background. In addition, the regime balanced the introduction 'from above' of certain 'fascist' elements (inspired by the regimes in Germany, Italy and Portugal) with a pro-British foreign policy and a strong deference to both the Crown and the church/religion. Nevertheless, in this chapter, I argue that the 4th of August regime should be relocated firmly within the terrain of fascism studies. The establishment and consolidation of the regime in Greece reflected a much wider process of political and ideological convergence and hybridisation between anti-democratic/anti-liberal/anti-socialist conservative forces, on the one hand, and radical rightwing/fascist politics, on the other. It proved highly receptive to specific fascist themes and experiments (such as the single youth organisation, called EON), which it transplanted enthusiastically into its own hybrid of 'radicalised' conservatism. Although far less ideologically 'revolutionary' compared to Italian Fascism or German National Socialism, the 4th of August regime's radicalisation between 1936 and 1941 marked a fundamental departure from conventional conservative-authoritarian politics in a direction charted by the broader fascist experience in Europe