Description
The decline of anti-fascism as a prominent ideology in international politics since the end of American unipolarity in the early 21st century reflects shifts in global power dynamics, ideological fragmentation, and evolving threats. During the Cold War and the unipolar era following the Soviet Union's collapse, anti-fascism served as a unifying ideological framework, particularly in Western democracies, rooted in opposition to authoritarianism and ultranationalism. It was bolstered by U.S. hegemony, which promoted liberal democratic values as a counterweight to fascist and totalitarian ideologies. However, the transition to a multipolar world, marked by the rise of China, Russia, and regional powers, has diluted the ideological coherence of anti-fascism.
This abstract argues that anti-fascism has waned due to three factors: the diffusion of global power, which has prioritized geopolitical competition over ideological unity; the rise of populist and nationalist movements, which have co-opted anti-fascist rhetoric for illiberal ends; and the fragmentation of progressive coalitions, which struggle to define fascism in an era of hybrid threats like disinformation and economic coercion. As American influence has receded, anti-fascism lost its universal appeal, becoming a contested and often localized narrative, overshadowed by pragmatic concerns like trade, security, and cultural identity. Drawing on illustrate case studies, this study examines how the absence of a singular hegemonic narrative has relegated anti-fascism to a secondary role, with implications for democratic resilience and global cooperation in addressing authoritarianism.
