Mussolini: Profiles in Power
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Mrtin Clark
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Mussolini is remembered as one of the two most important Fascist dictators of the twentieth century. He seized power in Italy in 1922 and ruled the country until overthrown in 1943. But his rule ended in military disaster and personal humiliation, ad he was executed by anti-Fascist partisans in 1945.
This readable and witty biography:
* Focuses both on Mussolini's personality and on the way
he exercised power, and regards these two issues as
closely linked;
* Considers him as a man with all the talents needed to
attain power but few of those needed to exercise it well in
the long run. Indeed, he had absolutely the wrong
personality for a successful political (and a fortiori
military) leader. He was a dynamic but insecure man, who
appeared dictatorial but always had to share power with
the military and bureaucratic Establishment, and greatly
resented the fact;
* Reflects on the nature of government and on how things
work in modern societies, and on how far politics and
individuals make a difference;
* Argues that Mussolini's appeal rested on embodying
robust masculine virtues - courage, responsibility,
patriotism - that are now distinctly old-fashioned, but still
have very widespread support. That is why his admirers
still regard him as the 'Last Man in Europe'.
On the 60th anniversary of Mussolini's death, Martin Clark's portrayal of the Fascist dictator's leadership bears a striking resemblance to the rule of contemporary politicians, obsessed by media spin and short-term triumphs at home and abroad. Clark argues that Mussolini pioneered a 'mediacracy' - rule by journalists attempting to ensure that all social institutions, and even the private sphere, conform to government dictates. The Fascist stress on political correctness may have been quite different in subject matter from today's, but was similar in its attempts to make certain extremely common things unsayable and even unthinkable.
Martin Clark is former Reader in Politics at the University of Edinburgh. He is author of many books on Italian history, including Longman titles Modern Italy 1871-1995 and The Italian Risorgimento.
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