Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present by Ruth Ben-Ghiat
“Strongmen” is an excellent book that reveals the “strongman” playbook used by authoritarian leaders from Mussolini to Putin and how that is being played out in America. Historian, MSNBC columnist, author, professor and with expertise of fascism, Ruth Ben-Ghiat provides readers with a fascinating look into how these men obtained power, destroy democracies in order to maintain power and what we can do to preserve democracy. This instructive 400-page book contains ten chapters broken out into the following three parts: I. Getting to Power, II. Tools of Rule, and III. Losing Power.
Positives:
1. A well-written and researched book.
2. A fascinating topic, how to recognize and combat authoritarian ascendance, better known as fascism.
3. Ruth Ben-Ghiat is an expert on this topic and it shows. Her writing style is easy to follow; each chapter basically represents an authoritarian or a fascist related topic.
4. The book is well organized. In general, it provides a well thought-out diagnosis of what fascism is and the potential cure. It provides extras that I wish more books would provide: Protagonists, Conclusion, Abbreviations, Notes and Selected Bibliography.
5. The author’s main purpose of the book is to reveal patterns of authoritarianism. ““NO HISTORIAN CAN GET INSIDE the heads of the dead . . . But with sufficient documentation, we can detect patterns of thought and action,” writes Robert Darnton. This book aims to do just that by looking at the evolution of authoritarianism, defined as a political system in which executive power is asserted at the expense of the legislative and judicial branches of government.”
6. Provides a list of the protagonists (authoritarian leaders of mainly prominent nations) of the book and how each has put their own mark on the authoritarian playbook.
7. Describes what is consistent among all authoritarians. “On one issue, the strongman has been consistent: his drive to control and exploit everyone and everything for personal gain.”
8. Describes the history of fascism. How it came to be. “Yet Mussolini, a former Socialist, knew the power of insurrectionary language to mobilize people. He pitched Fascism as “both subversive and conservative”: it favored national unity instead of class conflict, imperialism and force instead of international solidarity, and promised modernization without loss of tradition.”
9. Describes military coups as the main characteristic of the second strongman era. “World War I had created the conditions for the age of fascist takeovers, and World War II prepared the age of military coups.” Bonus, “Takeover by coup paid off for Gaddafi and Pinochet, who stayed in office for forty-two and seventeen years, respectively.”
10. Describes the existing era of strongmen. “WITH MILITARY COUPS LESS COMMON by the time Pinochet left office in 1990, elections became the way a new generation of strongmen would come to power.”
11. Interesting and telling historical observations. “The Hitler salute made clear who the enemies were, since by 1937 Jews were banned from performing it. Yet, as in Herr S.’s dream, its real aim was to sap everyone’s dignity and damage the bonds of civil society—a crucial goal of every authoritarian regime.”
12. Describes the characteristics of a strongman. “Strongman national projects generally leverage three time frames and states of mind: utopia, nostalgia, and crisis.” “Nostalgia for better times is also part of the equation, since the ruler’s vow is to make the country great again. This involves the fantasy of returning to an age when male authority was secure and women, people of color, and workers knew their places.”
13. The art of propaganda. One of the best chapters I’ve read on such a topic. “For one hundred years, authoritarian leaders have invested in propaganda to instill loyalty and fear, motivating people to carry out their agendas of nationalization, persecution, and thievery.” “At its core, propaganda is a set of communication strategies designed to sow confusion and uncertainty, discourage critical thinking, and persuade people that reality is what the leader says it is.”
14. Describes virility as a tool of the authoritarian, exemplified by misogyny. “So was Berlusconi’s 2009 warning to Italian women that the state could not protect them from sexual assault, hinting that their own attractiveness made them fair game: “We can’t deploy a big military force to avoid rapes. We’d have to have as many soldiers in the street as there are beautiful Italian women.””
15. Authoritarians and corruption. “Strongmen use corruption in tandem with other tools. Purges of the judiciary result in a justice system that exonerates crooks or doesn’t prosecute them at all. Journalists and activists who might expose thievery are imprisoned or smeared through propaganda. Virility makes taking what you want and getting away with it the measure of manhood.”
16. The use of violence. “Propaganda encourages everyone in the country to see violence differently: as a national and civic duty and the price of making the country great.” “Italy had a tradition of Catholic anti-Judaic sentiment, but no Eastern European–style pogroms in its history. Mussolini launched an intensive propaganda campaign to prepare his people to see Jews as a threat to their well-being.”
17. Describes resistance movements against authoritarians. “Most resistance in strongman states is non-violent, though, and unarmed protest has been among the most effective.”
18. The end of authoritarian rule. “Nothing prepares the ruler to see his propaganda ignored and his charismatic hold weaken until he loses control of the nation and is hunted by his own people, as happened to Mussolini and Gaddafi.”
19. An excellent Conclusion chapter. “The drive to accumulate and control bodies, territory, and wealth is a hallmark of strongman rule.”
20. Describes how to stop fascism. “TO OPPOSE AUTHORITARIANS EFFECTIVELY, we must have a clear-eyed view of how they manage to get into power and stay there.” “TO COUNTER AUTHORITARIANISM, we must prioritize accountability and transparency in government. At the heart of strongman rule is the claim that he and his agents are above the law, above judgment, and not beholden to the truth.”
Negatives:
1. As with most books of this ilk; the diagnosis is much more complete and satisfying than the cure.
2. This book is intended for the layperson and was written to be accessible. So if you are looking for an in depth analysis of fascism this is not your book. Otherwise, it’s another positive.
3. Emphasis on Italy (within reason) and European powers at the expense of African leaders (though Qaddafi was covered at length); very little was said of Idi Amin, and Barre as an example.
4. Lacks charts and diagrams.
In summary, I really enjoyed this book. It’s an excellent refresher of recent authoritarians (100 years back or so). Ruth Ben-Ghiat should be commended for making the topic of fascism accessible and interesting for the masses while educating us on the existing threat within our own borders. I highly recommend it!
Further recommendations: “Fascism” by Madeleine Albright, “On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century” by Timothy Snyder, “Bloodlands” by the same author, “American Fascists” by Chris Hedges, “How Democracies Die” by Steven Levitsky, “No Is Not Enough” by Naomi Klein, “Democracy in Chains” by Nancy MacLean, and “The Invention of Russia: The Rise of Putin and the Age of Fake News”.
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