History of facism
Prompt for Final Paper
The object of this paper is to write a thoughtful paper using only 2 sources: Madeleine Albright’s Fascism: A Warning and Chapter 10 of Edmund Morgan’s George Washington and the Use of Power. In Chapter Nine of Fascism: A Warning, Madeleine Albright quotes Cicero in describing democracy as “a difficult art.” In Chapter One, Albright describes fascism as “a means of seizing and holding power.” She devotes the rest of her book to case studies of leaders who either fully or partially transformed their nations into fascist states: Mussolini in Italy, Hitler in Germany, Chavez in Venezuela, Erdogan in Turkey, Putin in Russia, Orban in Hungary, Kim in North Korea, and Trump in the United States. In Chapter Ten of his George Washington and the Use of Power, Edmund Morgan provides a counter example: a successful general who championed democracy and declined to seize control for himself. Based on your reading of Albright and Morgan, write a 5-paragraph 1500-word essayregarding the danger that a democratic government can be changed into a fascist state. Organize your essay as follows: What is fascism? In what sense can we describe it as a state of government that comes after a democracy has failed? What leader, as described by Albright, most successfully (or most interestingly to you) changed his government (or partially changed his government) from a democracy to a fascist state? Briefly tell the story. Do not discuss Donald Trump in this paragraph. To what degree, according to Albright, is the America of Donald Trump moving in the direction of fascism? How did George Washington, as described by Morgan, work consistently to create democracy in America and to prevent its erosion into a government led by one man? In your own opinion, what must the citizens of a democratic nation do to prevent their government from transitioning into fascism? Support your arguments with brief quotes from the relevant texts. Use appropriate hedging language.
Chapter 1 and 9 from IMG 0606 to IMG 0631
Solution Preview
Fascism is a political ideology that emphasizes the state’s control over its subjects through a strict hierarchical and dictatorship. The theory developed in Europe specifically in Italy around the early 20th Century paying reference to national syndicalism. Fascism is a complex strategy that borrows and also opposes the concepts of liberalism, Marxism and some theories of traditional conservatism. The government representative is in control of everything to the extent that it compromises the individual rights in such an oppressive way. Many fascists are motivated by the need to dominate over a particular society and prevent the people from expressing themselves. The traits of political war, violence and imperialism are therefore common aspects of fascist governance which ends up weakening the territory.
(1,434 words)