Wikipedia:WikiProject Politics/Fascism/Scope

Fascism task force's scope covers the ideology and history of fascism until 1945. It includes Italian fascism, but also other movements defined as fascist.

Defining Fascism
Fascism is one of the most controversial political terms in modern history. There is no universally accepted definition for the term. For example, Wikipedia article Definitions of fascism presents 15 different definitions. Basically, the term fascism became associated with Benito Mussolini’s regime in Italy (1922-1943). However, this term is used not only for referring to Mussolini’s regime but also to other political movements, parties and regimes.

Following Wikipedia's policy No original research, the fascism task force does not define fascism by a list of characteristics, but rather define as fascist any person, movement or regime which are defined so in a reliable source (the only exceptions are Nazism and post-1945 movements, see movements, parties and regimes which are NOT included in the scope).

What is a reliable source?
General answer can be found in Wikipedia's policy Verifiability and the guideline Identifying reliable sources.

The topic of fascism requires additional clarification, since it is highly controversial:
 * Writings of fascists like Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Gentile should not be ignored, but should be considered with discretion. See Wikipedia's policy regarding primary sources
 * Opinions of general people, politicians and writers are not reliable. 'Fascist' is sometimes used as a provocative, pejorative and insulting term, meaning “violent”, “brutal”, “repressive”, “dictatorial”, “authoritarian”, “racist”, "conservative" or "clerical"  . In order to insure that the terms fascism and fascist will be used correctly, only researches by scholars of fascism should be considered reliable.

What if there is a controversy among scholars?
First, write it in the article and present the different views (cite your sources, of course). By doing so you keep a neutral point of view, regardless if the article will be included in fascism task force or not.

Try to decide whether to include the article by following the recent studies about this subject. Political movements, parties and regimes which were considered fascist in the past may not be considered so nowadays. For example, in 1965, German historian Ernst Nolte claimed that the French political movement Action Française was fascist. However, in 1999, the British historian Richard Thurlow claimed that "his [Nolte's] linking of the Action Française to the fascist tradition was misleading". Later, René Rémond and Stanley G. Payne described the differences between Action Française and Italian fascism. Dr. Jonathan Judaken classified Action Française as an extreme Right mouvement, and did not refer to it as fascist. Based on these sources, Action Française is not a fascist movement and should not be included in the task force.

If the topic is still controversial today, or if you are not sure if the topic should be included in fascism task force, discuss this in the task force's talk page.

Neo-fascism (Post-1945 movements and parties)
Italian fascism — as well as other forms of fascism existed in inner-war priod and during the Second World War— officially ended when the war ended, in 1945. Still, some post-1945 movements and parties supported fascism, or seemed similar to fascist movements. These post-1945 movements are parties were called neo-fascism.

Fascism task force's scope does not include neo-fascism for two reasons.

First, it is difficult to define neo-fascism and list neo-fascist movements. This is because neo-fascism is different from pre-1945 fascism. For example, people and political movements might hide their 'fascist' intentions because of legislation ("Fascism, the defense of Fascism, and the attempt to reestablish Fascism" had been made criminal offenses in Italy in 1945 ) or public opinion.

The historian Anthony James Gregor wrote about defining neo-fascism and listing neo-fascist movements : Evidently, it is not at all certain what "neofascism" might be, so we find it variously identified as the "radical right", "quasi-fascism", "mimetic fascism", "nostalgic fascism" and "cryptofascism". Given the abundant choices available, we find our selves overwhelmed by an avalanche of uncertain "neofascism". [...] In the course of our inquiry, if we wish to convey something significant about fascism after the end of the Second World War, it might be better to simply look at those individuals, and those movements, that identify themselves as fascist, and leave the analysis of the "radical right" to those having other agendas, perhaps greater skill, and certainly an infinitely broader perspective.

The second reason for not including neo-fascism is that about 450 articles are related to this subject. This is a large number, which will make the scope too large and the task force noneffective.

Nazism
Whether Nazism can by accurately described as being fascist at all is still debated. For example, Stanley G. Payne classified Nazism as fascist, while Zeev Sternhell claimed: "Fascism can in no way be identified with Nazism".

Nevertheless, the reason for not including Nazism in fascism task force's scope is merely practical. The topic of Nazism is broad enough for a WikiProject of its own. Including it in fascism task force will make the scope too large and the task force noneffective.