Editing Caesarism (section)

== 20th century ==
A so-called "democratic" form of Caesarism has been advocated by theorists like [[Venezuela]]'s [[Laureano Vallenilla Lanz]] in ''Cesarismo Democrático'' (1919).<ref name=diego>{{cite book|last1=von Vacano |first1=Diego A. |title=The Color of Citizenship: Race, Modernity and Latin American / Hispanic Political Thought |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |date=2012 |location=Oxford, UK |isbn=9780199746668 |pages=83–111 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjsjyJhSepoC&q=Laureano+Vallenilla+Lanz+caesarism&pg=PA83}}</ref> [[Italy|Italian]] ''[[Duce]]'' [[Benito Mussolini]] and the ideology of [[Italian fascism]] espoused Caesarism.<ref>{{cite book|first=Emilio |last=Gentile |author-link=Emilio Gentile |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TNmrDDs8lSkC |title=The Struggle for Modernity: Nationalism, Futurism, and Fascism |location=Westport, Connecticut |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishers]] |date=2003 |pages=137–138|isbn=9780275976927 }}</ref>

[[Antonio Gramsci]] stated that the roots of Caesarism lie at the level of a "crisis of authority," which is also a crisis of representation that occurs when social groups no longer identify with political parties. These then become anachronistic, allowing a Caesarist solution to emerge. In the Italian case, Gramsci locates the causes of this socio-political disintegration in the destabilizing experience of the First World War, where the large peasant masses were forced to fight. At the same time, they had been passive during the [[Unification of Italy|Risorgimento]]. Caesarism is a macro-social phenomenon and cannot be driven by the emergence of an individual; this phenomenon, therefore, fulfills a political function. Furthermore, Gramsci evokes the possibility of a "Caesarism without Caesar" but implemented by a group like the [[National Government (United Kingdom)|British National Government]] bringing together [[Conservative Party (UK)|the Conservatives]] and [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=George |last1=Hoare |title=An Introduction to Antonio Gramsci: His Life, Thought and Legacy Paperback |date=2015 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury Academic]] |isbn=978-1472572769 |pages=58–59}}</ref>

[[Oswald Spengler]] described Caeserism as a final phase of modernity that would succeed democracy.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jYjYLoGSsQgC&q=%22caesarism%22&pg=PA347 | title=The Decline of the West | isbn=978-0-19-506634-0 | last1=Spengler | first1=Oswald | last2=Helps | first2=Arthur | last3=Atkinson | first3=Charles Francis | date=1991 | publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g4h9suZLJPcC&dq=oswald+spengler+caesarism&pg=PA257 | title=Caesar and the Fading of the Roman World | isbn=978-1-4128-1905-3 | last1=Baehr | first1=Peter | publisher=Transaction Publishers }}</ref>