Kallis, A (2016) From CAUR to EUR: Italian Fascism, the "myth of Rome' and the pursuit of international primacy. Patterns of Prejudice, 50 (4/5). 359 -377. ISSN 0031-322X

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Abstract

The formation of Fascist Italy's international imaginary in the 1930s tells a fascinating story of growing global political ambition, of constant recalibration in the face of seismic geopolitical shifts and, in the end, a (frustrated) pursuit of symbolic primacy. Kallis discusses two different Fascist projects underpinned by this imaginary: first, the political project of internationalization promoted through instruments such as the Fasci Italiani all'Estero (Italian Fasci Abroad) and especially the Comitati d'Azione per l'Universalità di Roma (CAUR), as well as through direct diplomatic and political ties with an expanding circle of regimes in Europe and overseas; and, second, the pursuit of a deeper sense of historic-cultural primacy, linked to the idea of ‘Roman universality, which became the discursive lynchpin of the ill-fated plan to host a 1942 world’s fair in Rome (EUR/E42). The transformation of Fascism from a hyper-nationalist phenomenon into a force actively seeking international diffusion and finally ‘universality’ can be understood as a reflexive adjustment of Fascism’s ideological-political horizon, driven as much by new geopolitical opportunities and frustrations as by conquering ambition and ideological continuity. In fact, Italian Fascism’s trajectory from CAUR in the 1930s to EUR/E42 in the war-torn 1940s, unfolding against a backdrop of growing antagonism between Italy and Nazi Germany for global influence, retained a primary symbolic point of reference: the ideological, political and cultural-historic estate of the ‘myth of Rome’ as a symbolic discourse of trans-temporal and -spatial primacy.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Patterns of Prejudice on 02/11/2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/0031322X.2016.1243347.
Uncontrolled Keywords: Benito Mussolini, CAUR, EUR, Fascist ideology, internationalism, Nazism, Rome, universality
Subjects: D History General and Old World > D History (General)
D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D731 World War II
D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D839 Post-war History, 1945 on
Divisions: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Humanities
Related URLs:
Depositing User: Symplectic
Date Deposited: 12 May 2017 14:59
Last Modified: 11 Jan 2019 14:00
URI: https://eprints.keele.ac.uk/id/eprint/3420

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