The Other Side of Caesarism: A Genealogy of Italian Fascist Authoritarianism

Abstract

This contribution explores the cultural foundations of the concept of Caesarism, from the late positivist naturalization of national characters up to Fascism. The first section argues that the ill-defined concept of Caesarism circulating in Italian political discourse was based on the assumptions of late Tainian positivism, naturalistic and organicist, intertwined with a nationalist discourse. The second section traces how this imprint, combined with wartime, radical, antisocialist patriotism, forged a conception of the people modeled on the hierarchical military structure, sealing the genetic link between Fascism and the Great War. The third section illustrates how, after Fascism came to power, the combination of warlike hierarchical organicism and the principle of leadership took shape during the debate on constitutional reforms, particularly in the thinking of Giovanni Gentile and Alfredo Rocco. The fourth section suggests that the mutual hybridization of Rocco and Gentile’s positions produced an original paradigm of “corporative Caesarism.”