The ideological modifications of threat are sometimes very awkward.
On the surface, it makes sense. Democracies are more concerned about threat from totalitarian and communist states. And the communists are more worried about the fascists. And so on.
The problem is that threat represents more than one thing. Threat pushes countries away from you diplomatically. Neutrals won't want to align towards your faction if you are too threatening, but they will align towards opposing factions. But it also makes faction invitations possible, because minors and neutrals will want to align themselves to the winning side. So, Italy can be scammed into the Axis early by raising threat on France, and Germany's threat can cause Hungary to join the Axis because a deal with Germany is a better prospect than anything else in 1938.
But it gets weird when the war kicks off. A great example is Yugoslavia. Germany becomes a neighbor of Yugoslavia after Anschluss. So, as a threatening neighbor, you'd think Germany's threat would be ridiculously high on Yugoslavia after Munich and Danzig or War. (And after building countless divisions, planes, submarines, and fighting tons of battles to get veteran army, all of which are supposed to generate threat.) But I've had games where even after I have won the war by defeating Britain and the Soviets, annexing Switzerland in Operation Tannenbaum, puppeting Norway, Sweden, and Finland, and launching a general campaign of worldwide conquest, I (as Germany) won't have enough threat on Yugoslavia to invite them into the Axis. They are in my corner; their government loves me; they even would want to join. But France or the Soviets still have more threat on them than I do after achieving 13 of 15 Axis war goals.
Sure, I could just annex them, but there's no reason to waste time attacking Yugoslavia if the government hasn't undergone its historical coup that makes them pro-Allies. I've also had games where I can't invite Bulgaria into the Axis despite the same conditions.
If I had it to do all over again, I'd take a good, hard look at ideological considerations related to threat. The right wing autocracies weren't just cheering in the streets for the Nazis. There were very real and pragmatic reasons Yugoslavia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey all made moves to align with Germany (remember, Turkey was an observer member of the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1941, and Yugoslavia had a signed the Tripartite Pact two days before her government was overthrown in a pro-British coup). And these reasons were in part based on Germany appearing powerful and threatening.