Award-winning historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat talks about how today’s rising authoritarians are drawing from a weather-worn playbook  developed by Italian fascists a century ago. By emphasizing virility, bigotry, and perceived victimhood, this new crop of would-be strongmen -- from Putin to Mohdi to Netanyahu to Trump -- are bolstering executive power, personalizing their rule, and endangering democracy itself. 

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. Her latest book, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present, looks at how illiberal leaders use propaganda, corruption, violence, and machismo — and how they can be defeated. Professor Ben-Ghiat was the spring 2023 Dan and Maggie Inouye Distinguished Chair in Democratic Ideals at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

Peter Arnade (moderator) is the Dean of the College of Languages and Letters at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is also an author and researcher that specializes in European History.

Sound editing by Leandro Nuckols. Graphic by Kaia Hutchison.

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