The Fascist Faith of the Legion "Archangel Michael" in Romania, 1927–1941 engages critically with recent works on fascism, totalitarianism, and religion, and advances an original theoretical and methodological approach to fascism as a political faith. On this basis, the book constructs an innovative comparative research framework for reconceptualizing the history of the Legion "Archangel Michael" in Romania, 1927–1941. It contends that the Legion put forward a palingenetic political faith of a theological type, called Legionarism. To provide a comprehensive analysis of the origins, main features, mechanisms of institutionalization, and demise of this self-proclaimed salvific political faith, the book documents the palingenetic foundations of the Legionary faith, the syncretism between fascist and Christian rites and rituals, and the intricate relationship between the Legion and the Orthodox Church and its dogma. The book documents three main sacrificial strategies employed by the Legion to "re-evangelize" the people in the new faith: (1) the appropriation of the cult of the fallen soldiers; (2) terrorist missions meant to create fascist heroes through violent sacrifice; and (3) sanctification through heroic fight for Christianity in the Spanish Civil War, in an attempt to link Legionarism with the transnational crusade against "Judeo-Bolshevism." As well as providing a detailed historical and interpretive account of the Legion, the book makes a significant contribution to debates about defining fascism and its relation to religion. It also provides novel comparative perspectives for studying other attempts at constructing fascist faiths in interwar Europe, most notably in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany but also in Central and Eastern Europe. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of fascism, Romanian studies, politics and religion, political theory, totalitarianism, youth radicalization, violence, and the emergence of terrorism.

"The Fascist Faith of the Legion "Archangel Michael" in Romania, 1927-41 engages critically with recent works on fascism, totalitarianism, and religion, and advances an original theoretical and methodological approach to fascism as a political faith. On this basis, the book constructs an innovative comparative research framework for reconceptualizing the history of the Legion "Archangel Michael" in Romania, 1927-41. It contends that the Legion put forward a palingenetic political faith of a theological type, called legionarism. To provide a comprehensive analysis of the origins, main features, mechanisms of institutionalization and demise of this self-proclaimed salvific political faith, the book documents the palingenetic foundations of the Legionary faith, the syncretism between fascist and Christian rites and rituals, and the intricate relationship between the Legion and the Orthodox Church and its dogma. The book documents three main sacrificial strategies employed by the Legion to 're-evangelize' the people in the new faith: (1) the appropriation of the cult of the fallen soldiers; (2) terrorist missions meant to create fascist heroes through violent sacrifice; and (3) sanctification through heroic fight for Christianity in the Spanish Civil War, in an attempt to link legionarism with the transnational crusade against "Judeo-Bolshevism." As well as providing a detailed historical and interpretive account of the Legion, the book makes a significant contribution to debates about defining fascism and its relation to religion. It also provides novel comparative perspectives for studying other attempts at constructing fascist faiths in interwar Europe, most notably in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of fascism, politics and religion, political theory, Romanian history, youth radicalization, violence, and the emergence of terrorism"--

This book evaluates the current and future state of fascism studies, reflecting on the first hundred years of fascism and looking ahead to a new era in which fascism studies increasingly faces fresh questions concerning its relevance and the potential reappearance of fascism. This wide-ranging work celebrates Roger Griffin’s contributions to fascism studies – in conceptual and definitional terms, but also in advancing our understanding of fascism – which have informed related research in a number of fields and directions since the 1990s. Bringing together three ‘generations’ of fascism scholars, the book offers a combination of broad conceptual essays and contributions focusing on particular themes and facets of fascism. The book features chapters, which, although diverse in their approaches, explore Griffin’s work while also engaging critically with other schools of thought. As such, it identifies new avenues of research in fascism studies, placing Griffin’s work within the context of new and emerging voices in the field.

Winner of the 2019 CEU Award for Outstanding Research The book explores the making of Romanian nation-state citizenship (1750-1918) as a series of acts of emancipation of subordinated groups (Greeks, Gypsies/Roma, Armenians, Jews, Muslims, peasants, women, and Dobrudjans). Its innovative interdisciplinary approach to citizenship in the Ottoman and post-Ottoman Balkans appeals to a diverse readership.

This book features a broad range of thematic and national case studies which explore the interrelations and confrontations between conservatives and the radical Right in the European and global contexts of the interwar years. It investigates the political, social, cultural, and economic issues that conservatives and radicals tried to address and solve in the aftermaths of the Great War. Conservative forces ended up prevailing over far-right forces in the 1920s, with the notable exception of the Fascist regime in Italy. But over the course of the 1930s, and the ascent of the Nazi regime in Germany, political radicalisation triggered both competition and hybridisation between conservative and right-wing radical forces, with increased power for far-right and fascist movements. The book will be of great interest to students and scholars of politics, history, fascism, and Nazism.

Founded in 1927, Romania’s Legion of the Archangel Michael was one of Europe’s largest and longest-lived fascist social movements. In Holy Legionary Youth, Roland Clark draws on oral histories, memoirs, and substantial research in the archives of the Romanian secret police to provide the most comprehensive account of the Legion in English to date. Clark approaches Romanian fascism by asking what membership in the Legion meant to young Romanian men and women. Viewing fascism "from below," as a social category that had practical consequences for those who embraced it, he shows how the personal significance of fascism emerged out of Legionaries’ interactions with each other, the state, other political parties, families and friends, and fascist groups abroad. Official repression, fascist spectacle, and the frequency and nature of legionary activities changed a person’s everyday activities and relationships in profound ways. Clark’s sweeping history traces fascist organizing in interwar Romania to nineteenth-century grassroots nationalist movements that demanded political independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It also shows how closely the movement was associated with the Romanian Orthodox Church and how the uniforms, marches, and rituals were inspired by the muscular, martial aesthetic of fascism elsewhere in Europe. Although antisemitism was a key feature of official fascist ideology, state violence against Legionaries rather than the extensive fascist violence against Jews had a far greater impact on how Romanians viewed the movement and their role in it. Approaching fascism in interwar Romania as an everyday practice, Holy Legionary Youth offers a new perspective on European fascism, highlighting how ordinary people "performed" fascism by working together to promote a unique and totalizing social identity.

Horatio Bottomley and the Far Right Before Fascism examines Bottomley’s life and politics, and what made him one of the great figures of Edwardian life. During the first World War, his magazine John Bull sold two million copies a week. Bottomley addressed huge crowds urging them to wage a way of extermination against ordinary Germans. The first chairman of the Financial Times, the inspiration for Toad in The Wind in the Willows, Bottomley was also a major figure in post-1918 politics, urging Conservative voters to dump their leaders and try something new. This carefully researched biography, the first new life of Bottomley for 50 years, shows how he began on the centre-left of Edwardian politics and then moved to the margins, becoming a leading figure on the Edwardian far right, and pre-empting the non-fascist far right of our own days. This book will appeal to scholars and students with interests in political history, fascism and the far right.