In her Inouye Chair keynote address, NYU historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat explains how today’s populists threatening democracy draw from a playbook written by European fascists in the buildup to World War II.
The lecture surveys how institutionalized misogyny, celebration of hypermasculinity, and violent rhetoric are building blocks of modern-day authoritarianism.
Keywords: Ruth Ben-Ghiat, strongmen, ideology, exploitation, gender politics, hypermasculinity, propaganda, monopolization, global democracy, illiberal government, toxic masculinity, populism, Trump, Putin, populism, fascism
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is Professor of History and Italian Studies at New York University, a Guggenheim fellow, and Advisor to Protect Democracy. She is an MSNBC opinion columnist and a regular contributor to CNN and The Washington Post. She publishes Lucid, a newsletter on threats to democracy.
In her latest book, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, Ben-Ghiat looks at how illiberal leaders use propaganda, corruption, violence, and machismo - and how they can be defeated.
Professor Ben-Ghiat is the spring 2023 Dan and Maggie Inouye Distinguished Chair in Democratic Ideals at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
BTSS website: manoa.hawaii.edu/speakers/
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