Introduction
Polemicists and pundits frequently use terms such as “Fascislamism,” “Islamic totalitarianism,” “Islamist totalitarianism,” and “Islamo-fascism” when describing Islamism. But is there any truth in these polemics? Is Islamism fascist? Is it totalitarian?
What is Fascism?
Many define fascism, as does the New Oxford American Dictionary, as “an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization” or, in a more general sense, to refer to “extreme right wing, authoritarian, or intolerant views or practice” The same dictionary also points out that “the term Fascism was first used of the totalitarian right-wing nationalist regime of Mussolini in Italy (1922-43),” and that “the regimes of the Nazis in Germany and Franco in Spain were also fascist” ().
