Abstract

This lecture by Mark Mazower explores how historians have understood the phenomenon of fascism and asks what use, if any, the resulting insights are in helping us understand the nature of the current political and economic crisis in Europe. It focuses on the connections and differences between fascism then and now, asks what function historical memory plays in shaping political trends and analyses the usefulness of the concept of a crisis of democracy in making sense of trends in the European Union.

Mark Mazower is Ira B. Wallach Professor of History at Columbia University. He is the author of several books on the history of Greece, modern Europe and international affairs, most recently ‘Governing the World: the History of an Idea’ (Penguin, 2012). He comments regularly on international affairs for the Financial Times and the Guardian, and reviews for the TLS , the New York Times, the LRB and other journals.