During the spring semester of the academic year 2021/2022 the Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest held a course on the Topic "Questions of Constitutionalism: Democracies, Dictatorships, Authoritarian Systems".
This course was held for Master students in History, and was aimed to promote a broader knowledge of Fascism, a phenomenon that in Hungarian university education is generally taught with a strict chronological approach. Therefore, the aim of the course and its seminars was to give to the students a deeper understanding of the social, economic, and ideological effects of Fascism, an ideology that affected the lives of the 20th century Europeans as well as those of the next generations of Europeans.
The course’s seminars addressed topics such as the party state and its practical manifestations in everyday life, the corporate state, the relationship between the Church and the State, the gender question, youth and youth training in the fascist style, the health care, eugenics, racism, and anti-Semitism, the mafia problem, the literature and press in a dictatorship, the architectural and urban planning issues in a dictatorship and nation building issues.
Each seminar focused on a specific topic, as described in the following timetable:
7 February 2022 – Introduction
14 February 2022 – Politics: the party state and its practical manifestations in everyday life
21 February 2022 – Organization of the economy: the corporate state
28 February 2022 – The relationship between the Church and the State
7 March 2022 – The gender question
21 March 2022 – Youth and youth training in the fascist style
28 March 2022 – Health care, eugenics, racism, and anti-Semitism
4 April 2022 – The mafia and its associates
11 April 2022 – Literature and press in a dictatorship
25 April 2022 – Architectural and urban planning issues in a dictatorship. How party-driven was art in Italy? How much freedom did the artist have?
2 May 2022 – Nation building from words to sports
9 May 2022 – Oral exam
