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Is fascism a threat today in the West, as it once was between the two world wars? What is distinctive about fascist movements or movement parties, when and why do they succeed in entering government and what are the tensions and dynamics of fascism in power as distinct from other authoritarian governments and regimes?  Is there a specific trajectory to fascist regimes and if so, how does it relate to empire or imperialist expansion?  The first part of this course will develop a working definition or ideal type of fascism as a movement, as a party in government, and as a distinct regime type, through a comparative analysis of the relevant cases in Italy, Germany, France and the United States.  The second part of the course will focus on 7 conceptual and analytic issues: the political structure of fascist regimes and the totalitarianism debate; the relationship of fascism to capitalism; fascist legality; fascist ideology; the mass psychology of fascism; the relationship of fascism to nationalism and empire and finally the comparison of fascism to populism.  Throughout, our interest will be the distinctiveness of Fascism as a subtype of authoritarianism, the contemporary relevance of fascism and the similarities and differences (and possible convergences) with contemporary populism.