Caesarism names rule arising when conflicting forces mutually exhaust each other

Evidence

Caesarism can be said to express a situation in which the forces in conflict balance each other in a catastrophic manner; that is to say, they balance each other in such a way that a continuation of the conflict can only terminate in their reciprocal destruction. When the progressive force A struggles with the reactionary force B, not only may A defeat B or B defeat A, but it may happen that neither A nor B defeats the other—that they bleed each other mutually and then a third force C intervenes from outside, subjugating what is left of both A and B. In Italy, after the death of Lorenzo il Magnifico, this is precisely what occurred. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 852

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Gramsci’s concept of Caesarism via the mutual-exhaustion equilibrium of conflicting forces.
• XREF: Connects forward to theories of fascism and authoritarian rule as arising from deadlocked class struggle — relevant to later Islamophobia analyses of the state. — connects to: Names can be explained by the contradiction of what they denote
• QUESTION: Does Gramsci elsewhere distinguish Caesarism from Bonapartism, or treat them as one concept?