Having rewatched the movie recently because of the hot takes going around about it (and because action-slop sci-fi is something I'm down with)...I'll try to be charitable to Verhoven--because he DID, intentionally or not, make an action movie that still HAS people making hot-takes and arguing over it after a quarter-century. That's impressive.
The trouble for Verhoven's vision is that the script undermines it and...Well, the original material the movie is based on periodically shines through despite the 'fascist' window-dressing of uniforms or even laws and some aspects of the society we're shown--the in-universe propaganda/commercials is where most of the questionable things happen while Rico's story and the presentation of it is split from those and emphasizes personal responsibility for oneself and for the group one's part od, the use of violence for causes beyond personal survival or personal goals, military camaraderie and self-sacrifice for others and/or causes beyond oneself. Which...Yes, fascists and authoritarians and bad guys can have all those things, but at a certain point it becomes 'Hitler also ate vegetables' level of silly--especially with an opponent never shown in any positive light--explicitly or even by implication.
In Rico's storyline the distinction between citizen and civilian is purely academic at the start when Earth is at peace--to the degree that his father dismisses the status entirely as unnecessary. While we get a minute-long presentation of a biology teacher that expresses admiration for the bugs collectivist ideology and everyone knowing their place and whatnot that sounds questionable...We also get *more* of Radzik who in class and personally to Rico urges him to make up his own mind and think for himself (which he doesn't do). While there are shades there where you might make the case of that trend continuing (Rico mimicking Radzik's command style and words to new recruits at the end) and that being a big deal...You can make a stronger case of it being not mindless imitation and subservience to the collective good and etcetera fascism that is coming to the fore there but instead a very personalized and individual memorialization of the dead and taking on of a better role with more responsibility where more thought is needed.
There's just...always something undercutting the 'authoritarian' messaging? The schooling shown is no more authoritarian than your average high school (arguably less so), boot camp when Johnny goes can be left at any time, corporal punishment of Rico is pretty fucked-up but...that's not exactly a solely fascist thing and Rico did commit involuntary manslaughter (where murder gets you chair'd after a one-day trial?), and we're never shown boot camp's whole voluntary nature being ended. Children require permits, as we learn in the showers, but being a citizen only makes the process easier instead of being a guarantee (as Rico demonstrates himself). New recruits are shown being younger than Rico and the others, but they aren't noted as being conscripted so we're left to presume nothing changed there...Even Neil Patrick Harris' fashy-dressing psychic character is implied at the end to have potentially 'messaged' Rico about where to go on a rescue-mission that contradicted orders to track the brain-bug--Valuing individual connection and personal priorities over the good of the mission/species...And HE'S the character making a 'good of the species' argument midway through the movie.
Admittedly, that last is entirely open to interpretation, but even if it isn't the case...Rico disobeyed orders and it's presented heroically and isn't called-out by anyone. Which may not be how a military would function, but certainly doesn't make the Federation look more/overly authoritarian in an easy moment where it COULD be. The film banks on background 'not everyone can vote', 'the one trial referenced is immediate death penalty', and 'they kill bugs without moral compunction' doing all the heavy lifting of making a fascist dystopia, while explicitly squashing the idea of there being any 'second-class citizens' despite the explicit existence of EXACTLY THAT.
It's hypocritical, I guess, in short. And, paradoxically for a MOVIE, it suffers from telling and not showing of the supposed fascism...And the attempts at showing made are very 'telling' in nature (LOOK! The psychic has on a black trenchcoat and peaked-cap that looks vaguely-SS-ish, the Federation must be the baddies!).
Verhoven seems to believe fascism is nationalism + militarism + maybe-speciesism (the bugs make a shitty allegory in this vein because they aren't humanized ever, so...).
