Any system of strong autocracy or oligarchy usually to the extent of bending and breaking the law, race-baiting, and/or violence against largely unarmed populations.
1922, from Italian fascismo (from fascio, from Latin fasces ultimately with reference to the fasces or bundles of axes and rods carried before the magistrates of ancient Rome in token of their power of life and death). Originally only applied (usually capitalized) to Benito Mussolini's Italy which used a representation of the ancient fasces as its emblem.
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