Political Violence and the Rise of Fascism

Luca V.A. Colombo, Michele Magnani and Massimiliano Gaetano Onorato

Working Papers from Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna

Abstract: In the early 1920s, Italian fascism grew from a marginal group into an organized party capable of challenging incumbent political forces and precipitating democratic backsliding. A key driver of this expansion was the strategic use of violence by squads that moved across municipalities to strike opponents and local institutions. We show that road networks were central to the diffusion of fascist violence: by lowering travel times and facilitating rapid incursions, roads made violence harder to anticipate and more effective. We document that such violence profoundly altered local political institutions, accelerating the consolidation of fascist control within a few years.

JEL-codes: D74 N44 N74 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-pol
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