[twright]

They are not necessarily mutually exclusive terms, you could have a fascist monarchy as much as you could have a liberal one. Monarchy describes the system of government as ruled by a regent. Fascism describes the attitude of a government (or movement) to conserve an existing social order, or regress to one. This is done with mechanisms of direct power e.g., single-party rule (totalitarianism), military power (military-dictatorship/police state), or via the commands of a single individual (dictatorship).

[robertlagrant]

> you could have a fascist monarchy as much as you could have a liberal one

I think you've transposed fascist and authoritarian. Fascism isn't a synonym for authoritarianism. Fascism and some types of monarchy are both authoritarian.

[sdwr]

I think what distinguishes fascism from plain authoritarianism is that, with fascism, a segment of the population is enthusiastically participating.

[robertlagrant]

But that's true for all the socialist nightmares in the 20th century as well.