Transnational Fascism: Cross-Border Relations between Regimes and Movements in Europe, 1922-1939

Abstract

In recent debates about transnational and inter-cultural approaches in historiography, crossborder relations have usually assumed a positive connotation for mutually enriching the parties involved. However, research on bilateral relationships between Italian Fascism and German National Socialism and of fascist movements in other European states demonstrate that transnational exchange is normatively ambivalent, i.e. it can comply with our aims, wishes and expectations or not. This contribution will present evidence for the attractiveness of Italian Fascism and German Nazism throughout Europe in the 1920s and 1930s. Beyond high politics, cooperation between fascists extended to other areas, like recreation and public relations. Nevertheless, fascist movements and regimes appropriated foreign doctrines and policies selectively in order to avert the charge of copying foreign models. They also stressed their nationalist credentials. Yet hypernationalism was deeply ingrained in fascist ideology, too. Thus, cooperation between European fascists was continuously hampered by mutual antagonism. Altogether, fascist nationalism and transnationalism were interrelated rather than mutually exclusive. Nevertheless, cross-border cooperation between fascist movements should not be underestimated or reduced to wartime collaboration.