Fascism is a somewhat odd term, encompassing a particularly wide range of meanings. The fasces were originally a bundle of elm or birch rods symbolic of authority in Rome, with the term subsequently being appropriated by Mussolini. At present, the term largely refers to any form of ideology or behaviour congruent with dictatorship and authoritarianism. However, Nazism, Stalinism and Falangism were all ideologies quite distinct from fascism (and in the case of the first two much more insidious and dangerous to boot).
Since the concept of fascism is so poorly defined, the Italian novelist and semiotician UmbertoEco has sought to define a typology of Ur-fascism, the characteristics of which are as follows:
)) leading to an obsession with conspiracyThe Virian might also add that fascism is essentially irrational and not susceptible to reasoned discourse. It is worth noting that a great many of the characteristics he identified apply particularly to the main monotheistic religions.