By Alexandra Alarcon
As democracy faces a global crisis, authoritarian leaders are exploiting fear, division, and nationalism to gain power, warned historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat in the inaugural Charles R. Ross Distinguished Lecture at UC Santa Barbara.
From Mussolini to Italy’s current female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, Ben-Ghiat traced how strongmen—and increasingly strongwomen—use fear and fake crises to portray political opponents as enemies and marginalized groups as threats to white Christian civilization.
NYU historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat speaks at UCSB’s inaugural Charles R. Ross Distinguished Lecture, warning about the authoritarian playbook and the global rise of strongman politics. The lecture was hosted by the Italian Studies program.
“Polarization is just the start,” said Ben-Ghiat, a professor of history and Italian studies at New York University. “Authoritarian survivalism turns it into me or you.” The event was hosted by UCSB’s Italian Studies program.
Authoritarianism and fascism have been present in Italy since Mussolini’s rule, and although far-right politics may be more subtle today, its influence persists, the audience heard. While their rhetoric and public personas may differ, autocrats’ strategies remain largely the same. For modern-day fascist leaders to successfully gain followers, they hide behind a facade of respectability and relatability while pushing extremist ideologies.
Meloni, who rose through the ranks of Italy’s post-fascist political movements, presents herself as a conservative leader, but her policies reflect a deeper connection to far-right nationalism, Ben-Ghiat said. Meloni has notoriously supported anti-immigrant policies, promoted narratives about white demographic decline, and positioned herself against LGBTQ+ rights.
“She wears pastels, she talks about being a mother—this makes her seem non-threatening while she rolls back reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ protections,” Ben-Ghiat said.
She also noted that authoritarian leaders manipulate gender politics, such as Meloni’s use of “gender- washing,” a term coined by psychologist Martha Burk, in which organizations appear to support gender equality while engaging in practices that perpetuate gender inequalities. While presenting herself as an empowered female leader and mother, Meloni simultaneously pushes policies that reinforce traditional gender roles, restrict reproductive rights, and attack LGBTQ+ communities.
“She poses as a defender of women, but she uses her power to roll back women’s rights and bodily autonomy,” Ben-Ghiat said. “She follows Mussolini and contemporary far-right politicians in presenting non-white populations as an existential threat,” Ben-Ghiat said. For example, Meloni has made statements that frame immigration as a “substitution” of the Italian people. Although Italy faces an aging population and labor shortages, her government has funded restrictive immigration policies, including an initiative to detain asylum seekers in Albania.
This tactic is not unique to Meloni but is part of a broader authoritarian playbook that has been used throughout history, Ben-Ghiat said. Strongman leaders thrive on crises, both real and manufactured, to justify extreme policies.
Current U.S. President Donald Trump–who has repeatedly declared immigration a national emergency and called for mass deportations–relies on similar tactics: fear mongering and creating crises to justify extremist actions. Ben-Ghiat pointed out that Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants as criminals and invaders is a modern reflection of fascist-era propaganda.
“Day one of Trump, he said, ‘I’m going to be a dictator on Day One,’” Ben-Ghiat said. “What does he do on Day One? He declares a state of emergency over immigration at the border.” By framing immigration as an existential threat, leaders like Trump and Meloni gain public support for policies that might otherwise be seen as extreme, such as mass deportation, she said.
On January 20, inauguration day, Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni posted a photo with U.S. President Trump on X. In her caption, she celebrated their “friendship” and his return to power, calling it the start of a “future of prosperity and security.”
Another key authoritarian strategy is controlling the flow of information. Many leaders actively undermine the free press and democratic institutions to remove checks on their power. In Meloni’s case, her government has led Europe in launching defamation lawsuits targeting journalists, while Trump has frequently referred to the mainstream media as “fake news” and “the enemy of the people.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni receives an “illustrious award” presented by billionaire Elon Musk last September. She posted the moment on X and said she was “deeply grateful” for his words of appreciation.
Ben-Ghiat said the use of spectacle is particularly effective in gaining loyal party followers. Mussolini used grand public performances and propaganda to present himself as a larger-than-life figure, while Trump has mastered the use of mass rallies and social media to reinforce his image as a populist leader.
Meloni also uses social media to flaunt her relationships with other influential figures such as Donald Trump, Elon Musk, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Hungarian President Katalin Novak, crafting an image of popularity.
Ben-Ghiat says that once authoritarian figures gain a foothold in power, removing them becomes increasingly difficult. They change laws, stack courts, and rewrite history to ensure their continued dominance.
“We are living through historic times where the global clash between democracy and autocracy is coming to a head, and it is becoming harder to ignore that strongman leaders don’t just endanger democracy—they pose an existential threat to humanity,” Ben-Ghiat said.
“They don’t just walk away, they rewrite history, they change the rules, they dismantle democracy piece by piece. And by the time people realize it, it’s often too late.”
Alexandra Alarcon is a fourth-year UCSB student majoring in Sociology and minoring in Professional Writing in the Journalism track. She is a Web and Social Media Intern with the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.