Authoritarian and totalitarian systems of individual countries have long been studied independently of each other. Only in recent years has a comparative perspective in the regional, chronological and system-oriented sense been applied, thus allowing many phenomena to be correctly understood and assessed. In the present anthology Mussolini's Fascism, National Socialism, and Communism are examined comparatively. Similarities, connections, and mutual influences in these dictatorships are sought. Finally, the transition from dictatorship to democracy is examined. With this collection of essays the editors intend to give impulse for inter-European comparative research on dictatorships and democracy. "Gerhard Besier" is director of the Hannah Ahrendt Institute for the Research on Totalitarianism at Technical University of Dresden (Germany). "Katarzyna Stoklosa" is a researcher at the Hannah Ahrendt Institute for the Research on Totalitarianism at Technical University of Dresden.

"Francesca Piombo" is a researcher at the Hannah Ahrendt Institute in Dresden.