Para-fascism
Para-fascism are authoritarian conservative movements and regimes that adopt characteristics associated with fascism such as personality cults, paramilitary organizations, symbols and rhetoric, while diverging from conventional fascist tenets such as palingenetic ultranationalism, modernism, and populism. Para-fascism often emerges in response to the need for a facade of popular support in an age of mass politics, without a genuine commitment to revolutionary nationalism, instead focusing on maintaining tradition, religion, and culture. Para-fascist regimes may co-opt or neutralize genuine fascist movements.
The historian Roger Griffin defines the following regimes and movements as para-fascist: Austrofascism in the Federal State of Austria led by Engelbert Dollfuss and Kurt Schuschnigg, Metaxism in the Greek '4th of August Regime', the "New State" of António de Oliveira Salazar's Portugal, the Bando nacional and the FET y de las JONS led by Francisco Franco in the Spanish State, Kingdom of Hungary led by Miklós Horthy, and the Révolution nationale in Vichy France led by Philippe Petain; the dictatorships of Carol II and Ion Antonescu in the Kingdom of Romania, Miguel Primo de Rivera's dictatorship in Spain and Antanas Smetona's Lithuanian Nationalist Union in Lithuania have also been referred to as para-fascist. While most historians of fascism agree that these regimes were not totally fascist, many authors do acknowledge that they have some kind of connection with fascism, either by being partially influenced by it or by co-opting some genuine fascist groups. The words used by different historians to characterize these conservative regimes include, apart from parafascism: semi-fascist, fascisant, fascistic, fascistized, quasi-fascist, and others.
By country
Austria
The Fatherland Front was an Austrian right-wing conservative, nationalist, and corporatist political organization founded in 1933 by Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss. It aimed to unite Austrians across political and social divides, emphasizing Austrian nationalism and independence from Germany while protecting the Catholic religious identity. The Front absorbed various anti-Marxist groups, establishing an authoritarian and corporatist regime known as the Ständestaat. It banned and persecuted political opponents, including communists, social democrats, and Austrian Nazis. Dollfuss was assassinated by the Nazis in 1934, and he was succeeded by Kurt Schuschnigg. The Fatherland Front's role in Austrian history remains a subject of debate, with some viewing it as a form of "Austrofascism" responsible for the decline of liberal democracy, while others credit it for defending independence and opposing Nazism.France
Greece
Metaxism is an authoritarian nationalist ideology linked to Ioannis Metaxas in Greece. It aimed for the revitalization of the Greek nation and the establishment of a modern, culturally unified Greece. This ideology criticized liberalism, prioritizing the interests of the nation over individual concerns, and sought to mobilize the Greek populace as a disciplined collective in the pursuit of a "new Greece."Metaxas proclaimed his 4th of August Regime as the embodiment of a "Third Greek Civilization," aspiring to create a culturally refined Greek nation drawing from ancient Macedonian and Spartan militaristic societies, representing the "First Greek Civilization," as well as the Orthodox Christian values of the Byzantine Empire, seen as the "Second Greek Civilization." The regime maintained that authentic Greeks were both ethnically Greek and adherents of Orthodox Christianity, explicitly excluding Albanians, Slavs, and Turks in Greece from Greek citizenship.
While the Metaxas government and its official doctrines are sometimes labeled as fascist, scholarly consensus characterizes it as a traditional authoritarian-conservative administration akin to the regimes of Francisco Franco in Spain or António de Oliveira Salazar in Portugal. The Metaxist government drew its authority from the conservative establishment, staunchly supporting traditional institutions like the Greek Orthodox Church and the Greek Monarchy. It leaned towards a reactionary stance and lacked the radical theoretical elements associated with ideologies like Italian Fascism and German Nazism. Notably, the regime did not espouse antisemitism, considering it to be "distasteful." While Georgios Kondylis was openly inspired by Mussolini and praised Hitler, it is "debatable" whether Metaxas attempted to establish a fascist regime. Metaxas deepened economic ties with Germany but rejected any "Nazification" his regime.
Hungary
A member of the "Szeged Fascist" Hungarian National Defence Association Gyula Gömbös was appointed prime minister in 1936. Miklós Horthy required him to publicly renounce anti-antisemitism. He renamed the ruling party to National Unity Party and adopted a pro-Italian foreign policy. From 1938, the regime adopted anti-Semitic laws after Nuremberg Laws and was a pioneer of antisemitic laws passing a numerus clausus back in 1920 but remained relatively safe for Jews compared to other Axis members. Walter Laqueur calls him "not a rabid antisemite" who was unwilling to oppose the "popular mood".Miklós Horthy's regime is described as "moderate conservative", "pro-fascist", "ultra-rightist Christian-nationalist", "right-wing", "fascist-shaped", or "half-fascist". It allowed some open opposition but was barely democratic and sought to keep the fascist movements from power. For instance, the 1939 parliamentary election were probably rigged to weaken the fascist Arrow Cross Party.
Lithuania
Marxist historians regarded Antanas Smetona's regime as fascist but while his regime and the Lithuanian Nationalist Union were noted to have fascist characteristics, Romuald J. Misiuna notes that the LTS was "in essence it was hardly fascist." LTS founded the Iron Wolf as a secret paramilitary organisation. They were seen as more fascist-leaning and were eventually reformed into a sporting organization after the dismissal of its leader Augustinas Voldemaras. Former Iron Wolf members who remained loyal to Voldemaras became rebel group and the Iron Wolves banned in 1934. LTS participated in the 1934 Montreux Fascist conference. In the late 1930s, the regime-loyal LTS became more influenced by catholic corporatism and the dictatorship adopted more fascist-leaning characteristics.Portugal
The National Union was the exclusive legal party of Portugal's Estado Novo regime, established in 1930 under the influence of António de Oliveira Salazar.Unlike most of the one-party states during its time, it operated more as a political extension of the government rather than holding direct authority. Its membership primarily consisted of local elites like landowners, professionals, businessmen, and individuals with Catholic, monarchist, or conservative republican affiliations.
The National Union did not actively engage in militant activities. Under Salazar's leadership, it became the sole legally permitted party, but he emphasized that it should not function as a conventional political party. Instead, it served as a platform for conservatism rather than a revolutionary force.
The party's ideology centered around corporatism, drawing inspiration from Catholic encyclicals and Mussolini's corporate state. Unlike other ruling Fascist parties, it played a more limited role in governance, primarily focused on controlling and managing public opinion rather than mobilizing it.
Scholarly opinions vary on whether the Estado Novo and the National Union should be classified as fascist or not, with Salazar himself highlighting significant differences between fascism and the Catholic corporatism of the Estado Novo. Some scholars lean towards categorizing it as a conservative authoritarian regime, while others argue for its classification as fascist.
Romania
;Royal dictatorshipAfter the 1937 general election which were likely rigged against the fascist Iron Guard, King Carol II appointed Octavian Goga of the fascist National Christian Party as prime minister to keep the larger Iron Guard at bay. However, the government was unstable because it did not hold a majority in parliament and was soon replaced by an autocratic government. The king suspended the constitution and created the National Renaissance Front which held the antisemitic policies of Goga in place. The party was later renamed to "Party of the Nation" and moved closer to fascism. The regime failed to gain support from the Iron Guard and in 1940, Carol II resigned.
;Antonescu's dictatorship
In 1940, the National Legionary State was created under Ion Antonescu and the Iron Guard. In 1941 however, the Iron Guard staged an unsuccessful coup and Antonescu stayed in power until 1944.
There is a historiographic dispute about whether Antonescu's regime was fascist or more generically right-wing authoritarian, itself integrated within a larger debate about the aspects and limits of fascism. Zeev Sternhell and Hagen Schulze describes Antonescu, alongside his European counterparts Pierre-Étienne Flandin, Franco, Horthy, François de La Rocque, Pétain, Józef Piłsudski, Salazar, and Italian King Victor Emmanuel III, as "conservative" in contrast fascist states.
Other sources call him para-fascist. Dennis Deletant notes that the fascist label relies on both Antonescu's adoption of some fascist "trappings" and the "dichotomy of wartime and postwar evaluation" of his regime, that post-1960 interpretations "do more to explain his behaviour than the preceding orthodoxy" and contrasts the lack of "mass political party or ideology" with the type of rule associated with Nazism or Italian fascism. Juliana Geran Pilon describes Romania's "military fascist regime" as a successor to Iron Guardist "mystical nationalism", while mentioning that Antonescu's "national ideology was rather more traditionally militaristic and conservative."