How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them

How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us Versus Them is a nonfiction book published in 2018 by the American philosopher and Yale University professor Jason Stanley. In it, the author discusses ten mechanisms by which fascist politicians gain and consolidate power in democratic states, potentially yielding a fascist state with an absolute leader. Drawing on examples that range from Nazi Germany to the contemporary United States, Stanley explains the appeal of fascist ideology during times of socio-economic transition or extreme inequality. Fascist politics exploit liberal democratic values such as free speech to create an environment of fear and factionalism in which the very possibility of reasoned discourse can quickly decay.

Each of the book’s ten chapters is devoted to a different strategy used by fascist politicians to gain and hold onto power. The first is to mythologize the past, thereby establishing false narratives about a country’s cultural heritage. In the early 20th century, fascists like Nazi Germany’s Adolf Hitler and Italy’s Benito Mussolini promised their followers a return to a mythic past in which traditional racial and gender hierarchies ensured prosperity for in-groups, namely White males of Christian heritage.