Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T06:27:51.784Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Democracy and Fascism: Class, Civil Society, and Rational Choice in Italy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2003

E. SPENCER WELLHOFER
E. SPENCER WELLHOFER
Affiliation:
Professor of Political Science, University of Denver, 470 Strum Hall, Asbury and Race Streets, Denver, CO 80208 ([email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The origins of fascism remain a major concern to social scientists. Because fascism emerged in societies seeking transitions to democracy, a better understanding of these failed attempts at democratic transitions improves our understanding of both democracy's possibilities and the strengths and weakness of democratic theory. Indeed, theoretical arguments employed to explain fascism have their analogues in theories of democracy. Three arguments have been advanced to explain both democracy and fascism: class, civil society, and rational choice. This research examines the rise of fascism in Italy, 1919–21. The evidence contradicts the class theory of fascism and offers mixed evidence for the civil society theory, while supporting the rational choice theory. Fascism will always be a minority movement. It cannot move beyond the cities.

Mussolini (1919)This paper is developed from research sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant SBR-94-2281. The Foundation's support is gratefully acknowledged. The Istituto Cattaneo of Bologna, the Dipartimento di Politica, Istituzioni, Storia of the University of Bologna, the Ministero dell'Intero, and the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica in Rome also provided invaluable assistance. Preliminary findings of this research were presented at the Organization and State Building Workshop, University of Chicago, May 11, 1998, and the Workshop on Political Processes and Spatial Analysis, Florida International University, March 5–6, 2001. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the European Consortium for Political Research Workshops in Torino, Italy, March 22–28, 2002. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation, the Istituto, the Dipartimento, or the Ministero. Particular thanks are extended to Professor William Brustein of the University of Pittsburgh for his comments on early drafts and for sharing his data. Additional gratitude is extended to Professors Paolo Pombeni and M. Serena Piretti of the Dipartimento di Politica, Istituzioni, Storia of the University of Bologna, to Professors John Grove and Rob Preuhs of the University of Denver, and to Gary King of Harvard University for comments on an early version.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 97 , Issue 1 , February 2003 , pp. 91 - 106
Copyright
© 2003 by the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agocs Sandor 1988 The Troubled Origins of the Italian Catholic Labor Movement, 1878–1914 Detroit Wayne State University Press
Arcari Paolo Maria 1936 Le variazione dei salari agricoli in Italia dalla fondazione del Regno al 1933 Variations in Agricultural Salaries in Italy from Its Foundation to 1933 Annali Di Statisticha Vol. 36, No. 6. Roma Istituto Centrale di Statistica
Arendt Hanna 1961 The Origins of Totalitarianism Cleveland, OH/New York World
Bartolini Stefano Peter Mair 1990 Identity, Competition, and Electoral Availability: The Stabilization of the European Electorates, 1885–1985 Cambridge Cambridge University Press
Bendix R. 1952 Social Stratification and Political Power American Political Science Review 46 June 357-75Google Scholar
Bentler Peter M. Freeman E. H. 1983 Test for Stability in Linear Structural Equation Systems Psychometrika 48 143-45Google Scholar
Berman Sheri 1997 Civil Society and Political Institutionalization American Behavioral Scientist 40 March/April 562-74Google Scholar
Berman Sheri 1997 Civil Society and the Collapse of the Weimar Republic World Politics 49 April 401-29Google Scholar
Bernabei Marco 1975 La base di massa del fascismo agrario ‘”The Mass Base of Agrarian Fascism‘” Storia Contemporanea 6 February 123-53Google Scholar
Bosworth R. J. B. 1998 The Italian Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives in the Interpretation of Mussolini and Fascism London/New York Arnold
Brustein William 1991 The Red Menace and the Rise of Fascism American Sociological Review 56 October 652-64Google Scholar
Brustein William 1996 The Logic of Evil: The Social Origins of the Nazi Party, 1925–1933 New Haven, CT Yale University Press
Bryk Anthony S. Raudenbush Stephen W. 1992 Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications and Data Analysis Methods Newbury Park, CA Sage
Burnham Walter Dean 1972 Political Immunization and Political Confessionalism: The United States and Weimar Germany Journal of Interdisciplinary History 3 Summer 1-30Google Scholar
Caponi Claudio 1974 Leghe Bianche e lotte agrarie nel Pratese, 1918–1922 The White Leagues and the Agrarian Struggle in Prata Prato Edizioni del Palazzo
Cardoza Anthony L. 1982 Agrarian Elites and Italian Fascism: The Province of Bologna, 1901–1926 Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press
Childers T. 1983 The Nazi Voter Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press
Corner Paul 1974 La base di massa del fascismo: Il caso di Ferrara [“The Mass Base of Fascism: The Case of Ferrara”] Italia Contemporanea 26 5 31Google Scholar
Corner Paul 1975 Fascism in Ferrara, 1918–1925 Oxford Oxford University Press
Corner Paul 1979 Fascist Agrarian Policy and the Italian Economy in the Inter-War Years Gramsci and Italy's Passive Revolution John Davis London Croom Helm
Dahl Robert A. 1989 Democracy and Its Critics New Haven, CT Yale University Press
DeFelice Renzo 1966 Mussolini il fascista: La conquista del potere 1921–1925 [Mussolini the Fascist: The Conquest of Power, 1921–1925] Vol. 2. Turino Giulio Einaudi
Direzione Generale del Lavoro e della Providenza Sociale and Ministero dell'Economia Nazionale 1924 I conflitti del lavoro in Italia nel decennio 1914–1923 [Labor Conflicts in Italy in the Decades 1914–1923] Bollettino del Lavoro e della Previdenza Sociale 38 Roma Grafica S.A.I.
Downs Anthony 1957 An Economic Theory of Democracy New York Harper and Row
Elazar Dahlia S. 1996 Agrarian Relations and Class Hegemony: A Comparative Analysis of Landlord, Social, and Political Power—Italy 1861–1920 British Journal of Sociology 47 June 232-54Google Scholar
Elazar Dahlia S. 2000 Class, State, and Counter-Revolution: The Fascist Seizure of Power in Italy, 1919–1922 European Sociological Review 16 September 301-21Google Scholar
Elazar Dahlia S. Lewin Alisa C. 1999 The Effects of Political Violence: A Structural Equation Model of the Rise of Italian Fascism (1919–1922) Social Science Research 28 June 184 202Google Scholar
Evans Robert H. 1976 Life and Politics in a Venetian Community Notre Dame, IN Notre Dame University Press
Foot John M. 1997 White Bolsheviks? The Catholic Left and the Socialists in Italy, 1919–1920 Historical Journal 40 June 415-33Google Scholar
Freedman D. A. Klein S. P. M Ostland M Roberts 1998 On Solutions to the Ecological Inference Problem Journal of the American Statistical Association 93 December 1518-22 With discussion: 1999. 94 (March): 352–57.Google Scholar
Gentile Emilio 1989 Storia del PNF, 1919–1922 [History of the Fascist Party, 1919–1922] Bari Laterza
Gerber Alan 1998 Estimating the Effect of Campaign Spending on Senate Election Outcomes Using Instrumental Variables American Political Science Review 92 June 401-11Google Scholar
Giusti Ugo 1921 Le corrienti politiche italiane atraverso due riforme elettorali dal 1919 al 1921 [Italian Political Trends Following the Two Electoral Reforms from 1919 to 1921] Firenze Alfa e Venturi Editori
Hobson Asher 1925 The Landless Agricultural Laborer in Italy Journal of Land and Public Utility Economics 1 October 425-34Google Scholar
Hobson Asher 1926 The Collective Leasing and Farming of Land in Italy Journal of Land and Public Utility Economics 2 January 67 72Google Scholar
Horowitz David L. 1963 The Italian Labor Movement Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press
Huber Evelyne Stephens John D. 1999 The Bourgeoisie and Democracy: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives Social Research 66 Fall 759-88Google Scholar
Istituto Centrale di Statistica 1935 Censimento generale dell'agricoltura italiana al 19 Marzo 1930 [General Census of Italian Agriculture on March 19, 1930] Roma Tip. I. Failli
Kelikian Alice A. 1986 Town and Country Under Fascism: The Transformation of Brescia, 1915–1926 Oxford Oxford University Press
Kenny Christopher Michael McBurnett 1994 An Individual-Level Multiequation Model of Expenditure Effects in Contested House Elections American Political Science Review 88 September 699 707Google Scholar
King Gary 1997 Reconstructing Individual Behavior from Aggregate Data: A Solution to the Ecological Inference Problem Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press
King Gary 1999 The Future of Ecological Inference Research: A Reply to Freedman, et al. Journal of the American Statistical Association 94 March 352-57Google Scholar
King Gary James Honaker Anne Joseph Kenneth Scheve 2001 Analyzing Political Science Data: An Alternative Algorithm for Multiple Imputation American Political Science Review 95 March 49 69Google Scholar
Kornhauser William 1959 The Politics of Mass Society Glencoe, IL Free Press
Linz Juan J. 1976 Some Notes toward the Comparative Study of Fascism in Sociological Historical Perspective Fascism, A Reader's Guide Walter Laqueur Berkeley University of California
Linz Juan J. 1980 Political Space and Fascism as a Late-Comer Who Were the Fascists? Social Roots of European Fascism Stein Ugelvik Larsen Bernt Hagtvet Jan Petter Myklebust Bergen Universitetsforlaget
Lipset S. M. 1960 Political Man: The Social Bases of Politics Garden City, NY Doubleday
Luebbert G. D. 1991 Liberalism, Fascism or Social Democracy New York Oxford University Press
Lyttelton Adrian 1987 The Seizure of Power: Fascism in Italy, 1919–1929 Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press
Machiavelli Niccolo 15311950. The Prince and Discourses New York Modern Library
Maier Charles S. 1975 Recasting Bourgeois Europe: Stabilization in France, Germany, and Italy After World War I Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press
Maier Charles S. 1987 In Search of Stability: Explorations in History of Political Economy Cambridge Cambridge University Press
McCue Kenneth F. 2001 The Statistical Foundations of the EI Method American Statistician 55 May 106-10Google Scholar
Ministero dell'agricoltura industria e commercio (Ufficio di statistica agraria) 1914 Il frumento in Italia: Produzione, consumo, prezzi [Wheat in Italy: Production, Consumption, Prices] Roma Bertero
Moore Barrington 1968 Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy Boston Beacon
Olson Mancur 1993 Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development American Political Science Review 87 September 567-76Google Scholar
Perdisa Luigi 1938 La bietola da zucchero nella economia italiana con particolare riguardo all'economia agricola nell'Emilia e del Veneto [Sugar Beets in the Italian National Economy with Particular Reference to the Agricultural Economy of Emilia and Ventorsqb; Studi e monografie dell'instituto nazionale dei economia agraria, Vol. 24/II. Roma Liberia internazionale Treves dell'Ali
Piretti M. Serena 1995 Le elezioni politiche in Italia dal 1848 a oggi [Elections in Italy from 1848 to the Present] Roma Guis. Laterza & Filigi
Por Odon 1923 Fascism Trans. E. Townshend. London Labour
Pugliese Salvatore 1926 Produzion, salari e redditi in una regione risicola rtaliana [Production, Salaries and Returns in the Italian Rice Regions] Milano Universitá Bocconi
Putnam Robert D. 1993 Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press
Putnam Robert D. 2000 Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community New York Simon & Schuster
Roberts David D. 1979 The Syndicalist Tradition and Italian Fascism Chapel Hill University of North Carolina Press
Robertson C. J. 1938 Agricultural Regions of the North Italian Plain Geographical Review 28 October 573-96Google Scholar
Schmidt Carl T. 1966 The Plough and the Sword: Labor, Land, and Property in Fascist Italy New York AMS Press
Serpieri Arrigo [Unsigned] 1921 Cooperative Landholding Societies in Italy International Review of Agricultural Economics October 488 503Google Scholar
Serpieri Arrigo 1930 La Guerra e le Classe Rurali Italiane [“The War and the Italian Rural Classes”] Storia Economica e Sociale Della Guerra Mondiale James T. Shotwell Serie italiane Bari New Haven, CT Laterza/Yale University Press
Smith Denis Mack 1959 Italy: A Modern History Ann Arbor University of Michigan Press
Snowden Frank M. 1989 The Fascist Revolution in Tuscany Cambridge Cambridge University Press
Szymanski Albert 1973 Fascism, Industrialism and Socialism: The Case of Italy Comparative Studies in Society and History 15 October 395 404Google Scholar
Tarrow Sidney 1995 Mass Mobilization and Regime Change: Pacts, Reform, and Popular Power in Italy (1918–1922) and Spain (1975–1978) The Politics of Democratic Consolidation: Southern Europe in Comparative Perspective Richard Gunther P. Nikiforos Diamandourous Hans-Jurgen Puhle Baltimore The Johns Hopkins University Press
Tarrow Sidney 1996 Making Social Science Work Across Space and Time: A Critical Reflection on Robert Putnam's Making Democracy Work American Political Science Review 90 June 389-97Google Scholar
Tasca Angelo 1966 The Rise of Fascism in Italy, 1918–1922 New York Howard Fertig
Tocqueville Alexis de 18402000. Democracy in America Harvey Mansfield Delba Winthrop Trans. Harvey Mansfield and Delba Winthrop. Chicago University of Chicago Press
Tremelloni Roberto 1923 La disoccupazione in Italia nel dopoguerra [“Unemployment in Italy After the War”]. Rassegna della Previdenza Sociale 10 August 7-27Google Scholar
Uslaner Eric M. 2002 Civic Associations: Democratic Elixir or Democratic Illusion? Presented at the Joint Sessions of European Consortium for Political Research Torino, Italy
Uslaner Eric M. 2002 The Moral Foundations of Trust New York Cambridge University Press
Wellhofer E. Spencer 1994 Men Make Their Own History, but …': The New Institutionalism and the Fate of Democracy in Inter-War Europe Democratization 1 Summer 323-42Google Scholar
Wong Chi-Sum Law Kenneth S. 1999 Testing Reciprocal Relations by Nonrecursive Structural Equation Models Using Cross-Sectional Data Organizational Research Methods 2 January 69 87Google Scholar
Zamagni Vera 1993 The Economic History of Italy, 1860–1990 Oxford Clarendon Press
Zangheri Renato 1960 Lotte agrarie in Italia 1901–1926: La Federazione Nazionale Dei Lavoratori Dell Terra [Agrarian Conflicts in Italy, 1901–1906: The National Federation of Rural Workers] Milano Feltrinelli
Zattini Giuseppe 1920 La potenzialita attuale della produzione del frumento in Italia in base alla statistica del dodicennio 1909–1920 [The Current Potential for Wheat Production Based on the Previous Twenty-Year Statistics, 1909–1920] Roma Tipografia ditta Ludovico Cecchini
Zattini Giuseppe 1922 La produzione del granoturco e del riso in Italia: In base alla statistica del decennio 1909–1920 [Production of Maize and Rice in Italy: Based on the Previous Twenty-Year Statistics, 1909–1920] Roma Tipografia Ditta Ludovico Cecchini
Zattini Giuseppe 1925 Valutazione della produzione lorda della agricoltura italiana The Value of Gross National Production in Italian Agriculture] Roma Cooperativa Tip. L. Luzzatti
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.