Profile
Federico Finchelstein is Professor of History at the New School for Social Research and Eugene Lang College. He has taught at the History Department of Brown University and he received his PhD at Cornell University. Finchelstein is Director of the Janey Program in Latin American Studies at NSSR.
Professor Finchelstein is the author of seven books on fascism, populism, Dirty Wars, the Holocaust and Jewish history in Latin America and Europe. His books have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Hungarian, Korean and Turkish.
Forthcoming book: The Wannabe Fascists: A Guide to Understanding the Greatest Threat to Democracy (University of California Press, May 2024)
Fascist Mythologies. The History and Politics of Unreason in Borges, Freud, and Schmitt (Columbia University Press, 2022) Italian and Portugese editions 2022
A Brief History of Fascist Lies (University of California Press, 2020). Portuguese Edition, 2020; Chinese, Spanish, Turkish, Italian, Hungarian, 2021, Korean, 2022; Paperback edition with new preface, 2022.
From Fascism to Populism in History (University of California Press, 2017 & 2019 with new preface). (Spanish edition, Taurus, 2018; Italian edition, Donzelli, 2019: Turkish edition Iletisim Yayinlari, 2019: Portugese edition, 2019.)
His previous books in English include, The Ideological Origins of the Dirty War (Oxford University Press, 2014) and Transatlantic Fascism (Duke University Press, 2010).
Finchelstein's books have received 75 reviews in academic journals. They were also reviewed in newspapers and media such as The Washington Post, Financial Times, Clarín, La Nación & La Voz del Interior (Argentina), La Repubblica, Corriere della Sera, Avvenire, Messaggero, Il Manifesto (Italy), Milenio (Mexico), El País and ABC (Spain) and El País (Uruguay).
Professor Finchelstein has published more than fifty academic articles and reviews on Fascism, Latin American Populism, the relationship between history and political theory, the Cold War, Genocide and Antisemitism in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German and Italian publications, both in collective books and specialized peer review journals in the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Israel, Brazil, and Argentina. He has been a contributor to major American, European, and Latin American newspapers and media, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Clarin (Argentina), Folha de S.Paulo (Brazil), Domani Giornale (Italy), Corriere della Sera (Italy), Politico, Mediapart (France), The Guardian (UK), CNN, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, Reuters, El Diario (NYC).
Degrees Held
Ph.D. in History, Cornell University, 2006
M.A., Cornell University, 2003
Licenciado en historia, University of Buenos Aires, 2000
Professional Affiliation
American Historical Association
LASA
Recent Publications
Books
The Wannabe Fascists: A Guide to Understanding the Greatest Threat to Democracy (University of California Press, May 2024)
Fascist Mythologies (New York: Columbia Unversity Press, 2022)
A Brief History of Fascist Lies (Oakland: University of California Press, 2020).
(Portuguse Edition, 2020; Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Turkish Editions, 2021,Korean, Chinese, forthcomming, 2022).
From Fascism to Populism in History (Oakland: University of California Press, 2017), in Spanish edition Del populismo al fascismo en la historia (Buenos Aires, Mexico, Madrid, Bogotá: Taurus, 2018); Italian edition, Donzelli, 2019: Turkish edition Iletisim Yayinlari 2019.
Paperback edition with new preface, 2019.
Per una storia della menzogna nell fascismo (Macerata: Eum, 2019)
El mito del fascismo. De Freud a Borges (Buenos Aires: Capital Intelectual, 2015). (In Portuguese: Intermeios, 2017)
The Ideological Origins of the Dirty War. Fascism, Populism, and Dictatorship in twentieth century Argentina (New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014); in Spanish: Los Orígenes ideológicos de la Dictadura (Buenos Aires: Sudamericana-Random House, 2016)
Transatlantic Fascism. Ideology, Violence and the Sacred in Argentina and Italy, 1919-1945 (Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2010); in Spanish: El fascismo Trasatlántico. Ideología, violencia y lo sagrado en Argentina e Italia, 1919-1945 (Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2010)
El Canon del Holocausto (Buenos Aires: Editorial Prometeo, 2010)
La Argentina Fascista (Buenos Aires: Sudamericana, 2008)
Fascismo, Liturgia e Imaginario. El mito del general Uriburu y la Argentina nacionalista (Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2002)
Edited Volumes
(with Antonio Costa Pinto) Authoritarian Intellectuals and Corporatism in Europe and Latin America (London: Routledge, 2019)
(With Andreas Kalyvas) Introduction and Edition of Carl Schmitt, Ex Captivitate Salus (Cambridge: Polity, 2017)
(With Andreas Kalyvas) introduction and Editionof Carl Schmitt, Dialogues on Power and Space, (Cambridge: Polity, 2015)
El Holocausto, los alemanes y la culpa colectiva. El debate Goldhagen (Buenos Aires: Eudeba/Buenos Aires University Press, 1999)
In Preparation
Diálogos sobre Populismo (Dialogues on Populism)(with Andrew Arato)
Selected Articles and Chapters in Books and Journals
“The Authoritarian Personality and the History of Fascism” Polity Journal, Volume 54,Number 1 (2022)
“Populism without borders. Notes on a global History” Constellations, (26, 2019) 418-429
“Populism and Democracy” (With Nadia Urbinati), Populism Journal, (1, 1, 2018)
“’Democraduras’? The case of Venezuela and National-Populism in Latin America” (with Carlos de la Torre) (Milan: ISPI, 2018)
“Fascism and Populism” In Carlos de la Torre (ed.) Routledge Handbook on Global Populism (London: Routledge, 2018)
“Carl Schmitt in History and Theory” (Special Issue on Carl Schmitt) History and Theory Volume 56, no. 3 (2017) 362–369
“Fascism, History and Evil in Roberto Bolaño” in Nicholas Birns & Juan De Castro (eds.) Roberto Bolaño as World Literature (London: Bloomsbury, 2017)
"Truth, Mythology and the Fascist Unconsious" (Constellations, 2016)
“Populism and the Cold War Renunciation of Dictatorship” in Paul Corner (ed.) Handbook on the History of Mass Dictatorships (Palgrave, 2016)
“Corporatism, Dictatorship and Populism in Argentina” In Antonio Costa Pinto (ed.) Authoritarianism and Corporatism in Europe and Latin America (forthcoming in English and Portuguese, Brazil and Portugal)
"El Holocausto, el fascismo y la guerra sucia" in Christian Sperling (ed.) Historia y Violencia (México: UAM, 2015)
"From Holocaust Trauma to the Dirty War," Historical Reflections 41, 3 (2015)
"A Ditadura "revolucionária"? Sobre a Teoria e Prática da Junta Militar argentina (1976-1983)" in Nildo Avelino, Telma Dias Fernandes and Ana Montoia (eds.) Ditaduras: a desmesura do poder (história, memória, política) (São Paulo, Brazil: Intermeios, 2015) 103-127
"Returning Populism to History," Constellations. An International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory. Volume 21, Number 4 (December 2014)
"La riformulazione peronista del fascismo" Contemporanea (Italy) XVIII, 4 (2014)
"Prefacio" in Tulio Halperin Donghi, Medio Siglo de Estudios Latinoamericanos (Buenos Aires: Prometeo, 2014)
"Fascism and the Holocaust." In Dan Stone (ed.) The Holocaust and Historical Methodology (Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2012) 255-271
"The Holocaust as Ideology. Borges and the Meaning of Transnational Fascism," Dapim - Studies on the Holocaust 25 (2011) [In Separate Issues in Hebrew and English] 273-300; also published as "An Argentine Experience? Borges, Judaism, and the Holocaust" in Adriana Brodsky and Raanan Rein (eds.), The New Jewish Argentina: Facets of Jewish Experience in the Southern Cone (Leiden: Brill, 2013) 147-178
"History and Memory from Past to Future. A Dialogue with Dori Laub" Yifat Gutmman and Amy Sodaro (eds.) Memory and the Future: Transnational Politics, Ethics and Society (New York: Palgrave, 2010) 50-65
Fascism Becomes Desire. On Freud, Mussolini and Transnational Politics," in Mariano Plotkin and Joy Damousi (eds.) The Transnational Unconscious (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) 97-123
"On Fascist Ideology." Constellations. An International Journal of Critical and Democratic Theory, Volume 15, Number 3 (2008) 320-331
"Sexo, Raça e Nacionalismo. A construção católica do del estere?tipo corporal judaico na Argentina." in Maria Luiza Tucci Carneiro (ed.) O ANTI-SEMITISMO NAS AMÉRICAS. Memória e História (São Paulo, Brazil: Editora da Universidade de São Paulo-Fapesp, 2007) 181-204
"The Anti-Freudian Politics of Argentine fascism. Antisemitism, Catholicism and the Internal enemy, 1932-1945." Hispanic American Historical Review, 87, 1, (February, 2007) 77-110
Selected Newspaper and Magazine Articles
“O Candidato de Pinochet” (with José Ragas) Folha de S. Paulo (Brazil), Nvember 21, 2021
Also Published in Domani Giornale (Italy); Tal Cual (Venezuela); & Pagina Siete (Bolivia)
“Defensores de un pasado fantástico” (with Maximiliano Fuentes Codera) El País (Spain), November 18, 2021
“El partido del Covid” (with Laura Palermo) Clarín (Argentina), October 4, 2021
Also published in Fohla D. Sao Paulo (Brazil); Domani Giornale (Italy); Pagina Siete (Boliva); Tal Cual (Venezuela); El Universo (Ecuador); El Espectador (Colombia); El Nacional (Venezuela); El Observador (Uruguay).
Also published in Fohla D. Sao Paulo (Brazil); Domani Giornale (Italy); Pagina Siete (Boliva); Confidencial (Nicaragua); Tal Cual (Venezuela); El Faro (El Salvador)
“Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is right to warn of ‘fascism in the United States’” (with Pablo Piccato and Jason Stanley) The New Republic, August 20, 2020
“Trump instala una campaña que retrocede más de medio siglo” Clarín (Argentina), August 13, 2020
Also published: Fohla D. Sao Paulo (Brazil): El Faro (El Salvador); El Observador (Uruguay); Pagina 7 (Bolivia)
“Trump’s Mount Rushmore Speech Is the Closest He’s Come to Fascism” Foreign Policy, July 8, 2020
“The danger of President Trump’s lies amid the coronavirus and urban uprisings” The Washington Post June 3, 2020
Also published in Folha D. Sao Paulo (Brazil); El Observador (Uruguay); Pagina Siete (Bolivia): El Faro (El Salvador)
“La paradoja de Bolsonaro y Trump” (with Jason Stanley) The New York Times, June 3, 2020
Also published: Clarín (Argentina); Datos (Bolivia)
“O líder fascista como encarnação da verdade” Serrote (Brazil), July issue
“Las políticas antipopulistas de la enfermedad” Agenda Pública/El País, June 21, 2020
“Mentiras fascistas matam” Quatro Cinco Um/ Folha (Brazil), June 1, 2020
“On the Revisionist Histories at the Heart of Fascism and Populism” Literary Hub, May 21, 2020
Also published in Turkey, YEŞİL GAZETE May 23, 2020
“The Fascist Politics of the Pandemic” (with Jason Stanley) Project Syndicate, May 4, 2020
Also published in newspapers: O Globo (Brazil); Krytyka (Poland); Bangkok Post (Thailand); La Nacion (Costa Rica);
“Coronavirus, mentiras y muerte” Agenda Pública/El País,(Spain) March 21, 2020
“El coronavirus y la tentación autoritaria” (with Laura Palermo) Agenda Pública/El País, (Spain) February 26, 2020
“Sí, hay fascismo” Agenda Pública/El País,(Spain) January 29, 2020
“Why far-right populists are at war with history” The Washington Post April 23, 2019
“Dinero, política y populismos” Clarín (Argentina), March 25, 2019
“The dangerous game Donald Trump is playing with Venezuela”
(With Pablo Piccato) The Washington Post January 30, 2019
“Trumpism is spreading in Latin America” Washington Post September 18, 2018
“C’è lo scandalo dei quaderni e l’Argentina vacilla” Corriere della Sera (Italy), September 2, 2018
“Roberto Bolaño y sus advertencias” Clarín (Argentina), August 16, 2018
“Quiénes y por qué aseguran que López Obrador es populista” Clarín (Argentina), July 13, 2018
“Italy's next government is Europe's next crisis” (With Andrea Mammone) CNN, May 22, 2018
“Donald Trump is inspiring world leaders — just not the ones you’d think” The Washington Post April 24, 2018
“Del Fascismo a Donald Trump. El populismo como concepción autoritaria de la democracia” Infobae, March 30, 2018
“Populismo sin fronteras” Clarín (Argentina), March 26, 2018
“Italia: los fantasmas del fascismo” Clarín (Argentina),February 22, 2018
“Historia detrás del racismo de Trump” Clarín (Argentina), January 19, 2018
President Trump isn’t crazy. But he is dangerous” The Washington Post January 17, 2018
“Venezuela's warning to America: Beware the populist-turned-dictator” The Washington Post September 18, 2017
“Trump en el camino del populismo autoritario” (With Ruth Ben Ghiat), Clarín (Argentina), September 16, 2017
“El peligro del fascismo en Estados Unidos," The New York Times, September 7, 2017
“Trump sigue siendo Trump,” Clarín (Argentina), September 7, 2017
“El populismo sustantivo,” Clarín (Argentina), July 24, 2017. Also published in English as “Substantive Populism,” Public Seminar, August 11, 2017.
“Von Trump Zu Pegida” SÄCHSISCHE ZEITUNG (Germany), June 7, 2017
“Presidência de Trump resume a crise global da democracia,” Folha de S. Paulo (Brazil), June 4, 2017
“Trump's Latin American Model” (With Pablo Piccato), Boston Review, April 10, 2017.
“Neoliberales en economía pero con aroma populista” Clarín (Argentina), April 7, 2017
“La ofensiva de Trump contra la sociedad civil ¿Qué sigue?” (With Pablo Piccato) Nexos (Mexico) March 1, 2017
“Juan Perón shows how Trump could destroy our democracy without tearing it down” (With Pablo Piccato & Dirk Moses) The Washington Post March 22, 2017
“Com Trump, Washington se torna a capital mundial do populismo” Folha de S. Paulo (Brazil), Febreuary 7, 2017
“El populismo y la grieta” Clarín (Argentina), January 28, 2017
“Develar el ‘trumpismo’“ Clarín (Argentina), July 29, 2016
‘This was the worst convention—if by “worst,” we mean the most fascist and populist in recent memory,’ Politico, July 22, 2016
"Donald Trump may be showing us the future of right-wing politics (with Pablo Piccato)," The Washington Post, February 27, 2016
"Trump, Fascismo y Populismo," (with Pablo Piccato) Nexos (Mexico) February 1, 2016
"A Belief System that Once Laid the Groundwork for Fascism," (with Pablo Piccato) The New York Times, December 9, 2015
“Russia Today, Argentina Tomorrow,” (with Fabian Bosoer) The New York Times, October 21, 2014
“Prosecutor’s death and the ‘Dirty War’: Argentina wonders if past is prologue,” Reuters, January 29, 2015
“Caso Nisman resume problemas institucionais da Argentina,” Folha de S. Paulo (Brazil), June 6, 2015
"Is Fascism Returning to Europe?" (with Fabian Bosoer) The New York Times, December 18, 2013
"An Argentine Dictator's Legacy," International Herald Tribune, May 28, 2013
"Latin America sees straight through John Kerry's 'Monroe' speech," (with Pablo Piccato) The Guardian November 21, 2013
"Cooperate and Move on" (On the Malvinas/ Falklands and Legacy of Margaret Thatcher), (with Fabian Bosoer) The New York Times, Opinion Pages - Room for Debate, April 9, 2013
"Argentina's About-Face on Terror," (with Fabian Bosoer) The New York Times, March 2, 2013
Performances and Appearances
Recent Presentations
Keynote speaker. In Conference, “Us versus Them”: Exploring Transatlantic Practices and Mediations of Fascism(s) and Populism(s) from the Margins. Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR), December 14-16, 2021.
Keynote speaker. In Conference, “New roles of professional historians and changing forms of the public use of history" ICAS, New Delhi, India, March 2-4, 2020
Invited Lowe Family Lecture, “Antisemitism, Fascism and Populism” The Center for Jewish Studies, Arizona State University, Tempe, February 17, 2020
“Fascism and the Authoritarian Personality? A Historical View” in Conference on “The Authoritarian Personality”, New Haven, Yale University, February 14-15, 2020
Invited Speaker, “Fascism Is Back” AHA, Plenary Session, (debate with Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Timothy Snyder and Claudia Koonz). AHA Annual Conference, New York, January 4, 2020.
Invited Talk, “The Argentine Dictatorship”, Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay, December 11, 2019
Keynote Speaker, “How Italian is Populism?” Association for the Study of Modern Italy (ASMI) Annual Conference 2019 “Promised land of populism? ‘Populist’ culture and politics in Italy, 1800-2019”. London, November 29-30, 2019
Invited Speaker, “Understanding the Media in Authoritarian States” Center for Media at Risk, at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, December 6, 2019
“Ceasarism, Fascism and populism?” in Caesarism: Historical and Normative Perspectives Workshop: Princeton University, November. 15-16, 2019
Invited Lecture, “A Crise da Democracia e o Avanço do Populismo de Direita” Fortaleza , Universidade Estadual do Ceará,(Brazil), July 26, 2019
Invited Talk, “Fascismos y populismos transatlánticos: Argentina, Italia y España” Girona (Spain), July 2019
Invited Lecture, “Populism without Borders” Dresden (Germany), May 21, 2019
Invited Lecture. “Towards a global history of fascism and populism, Pisa, January, 15 2019
Inaugural Lecture for 2018 Academic Year. “Populismo y tecnocracia” CUCHS. University of Guadalajara, Mexico. August 22, 2018
Invited Lecture. Fascism and Populism: Two Chapters of the Same History Public. | Institut für Sozialwissenschaften Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany. June 14, 2018.
Invited Lecture. “Populism. Fascism and technocracy” in Midem Lectures Series Populismus. Technische Universität Dresden, June 12, 2018, Dresden, Germany
Keynote Speaker. “Populism, Racism and Antisemitism in the Americas”, Latin American Jewish Studies Association Annual Conference, Columbia University, New York, May 30, 2018
Invited Lecture, Populism in the Atlantic World, Johns Hopkins University, February 26, 2018.
Invited Lecture, Fascismo e populismo, Fondazione Feltrinelli, Milan, Italy, December 17, 2017
Invited Lecture, “¿Que es el populismo en la historia?”, University of the Balearic Islands, Mallorca, Spain, June 30, 2017
Invited Lecture. “From Fascism to Populism. A Global and Transnational history” Global and European Studies Institute. Universität Leipzig, Germany, May 20, 2017.
Invited Public Lecture. “El populismo entre historia y teoría” Universidad Torcuato Di Tillea, Buenos Aires, April 12, 2017.
Invited Public Lecture. “The Dirty War in History and Memory" Cambridge University, UK, February 21, 2017.
Invited Lecture. “Holocaust, Fascism, Antisemitism: From Berlin to Buenos Aires”, The Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, December 28, 2016.
Invited Lecture. “Populism and crisis” at Guadalajara International Book Fair-Feria Internacional del Libro de Guadalajara, Mexico, December 2, 2016.
“The First Argentine Fascist: Leopoldo Lugones” In Crossing Borders Intellectuals of the Right and Politics in Europe and Latin America, ICS-University of Lisbon, November 17-18, 2016.
Invited Lecture. "Populism, Fascism, and Violence in the Americas." Northwestern University, November 2, 2016.
“On Latin America” in Global Think-in Populisms Now, Committee on Global Thought-Columbia University, October 31, 2016.
Invited Lecture. “On the Origins of Populism”Philosophische Fakultät; Institut für Politikwissenschaft, Technische Universität Dresden, July 5, 2016, Dresden, Germany
Keynote Speaker. “Una storia della violenza in America Latina” in Congresso Internazionale: Autoritarismi nel mondo Iberico e Iberoamericano. Università Ca' Foscari, Venice, Italy, April 13-15, 2016.
Invited Lecture."On Borges & Lugones", Harvard University, September 29, 2015.
Invited Lecture. “Rethinking Fascism.” Trent University. Canada, March 30, 2015.
Invited Lecture. “The Dirty War in Context” Institute for Historical Studies and the Department of History at The University of Texas at Austin, March 24, 2015.
Invited Lecture. 'Rethinking the Argentine Dirty War, 1976-83, and the Holocaust” University of Texas at El Paso, March 3, 2015.
Invited Lecture. "A Genealogy of the Dirty War" Center for Latin American and Border Studies, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, March 4, 2015.
Inaugural Lecture for 2015 Academic Year. “El mito político en la historia” CUCHS. University of Guadalajara, Mexico. February 10, 2015.
Selected Media Appearances, Reviews, and Interviews
- The New York Times
- Business Insider
- The Economist
- Reuters
- Politico
- Bloomberg
- Folha de S. Paulo (Brazil)
- El País (Spain)
- La Nación (Argentina)
- Uruguay's National Public Radio
- Clarín (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
- InfobaeTV (Argentina)
- El País (Montevideo, Uruguay)
- Vice News
- Raconteur (UK)
- Milenio (Mexico),
- Mural (Mexico)
- Monocle 24 (UK)
- ROROTOKO :: Cutting-Edge Intellectual Interviews
- Città Ateneo - Notiziario dell'Università di Macerata (Italy)
- La Nación (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
- Pagina 12 (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
- On Argentine National TV (Argentina) Invited Lecture, “Transnational Fascism in Context: from Italy to Argentina.” Ciclo di seminari 2014-2015 del Centro Interuniversitario di Storia Culturale, UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI PADOVA, Italy, October 21, 2015.
Research Interests
History and Theory; Fascism and Populism; Intellectual and Cultural History (Latin America and Europe); History, Violence and Politics; Jewish History, Holocaust & Genocide Studies
Awards And Honors
The New England Council of Latin American Studies (NECLAS) 2011 Best Book in Latin American Studies Prize, awarded to Transatlantic Fascism: Ideology, Violence and the Sacred in Argentina and Italy, 1919-1945 (Durham & London: Duke University Press, 2010).
Media Participation/Consulted/Quoted as Expert:
The New York Times, Reuters, The Economist, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal,The Washington Post, Clarín (Argentina), El País (Spain), La Nación (Argentina), CNN (USA), BBC (UK) (In radio and TV programs), Vice News (USA), Chicago Tribune, Haaretz (Israel); Santiago Times (Chile), Amsterdam News (USA), Miradas al Sur (Argentina), El Nuevo Diario (Nicaragua); Hetek (Hungary), Ottawa Citizen (Canada), The Chronicle Herald (Canada), Infobae (Argentina), Star Yazarlar (Turkey) Diario Uno (Argentina), Nueva Tribuna (Spain), Avanzada (Mexico), El Liberal (Argentina),TELAM (Argentina’s Oficial News Agency), Channel News Asia (Singapur); Milenio (Mexico), Mural (Mexico); Revista Apertura (Argentina); O Estado d. Sao Paulo (Brazil), YeniDüzen (Cyprus), Slate (France), Dagens Arena (Sweeden) The Ulkopolitis (Finland), Raconteur (UK): Al Jazeera (Qatar); Fortune (USA), Christian Science Monitor (USA), Politico (USA), Quartz (USA); La Semana (Colombia); Handelsblatt (Germany); Deutsche Welle (Germany); Veja (Brazil), El País (Bolivia); NPR (USA), Ilta-Samonat (Finland), Diario do Noticias (Portugal), The Guardian (UK).