At the Italian General Election held on February 2013, the 5-Star Movement (M5S), a web-based anti-establishment political subject, became the first party at its first national test. This chapter frames the experience of the Movement led by the comedian Beppe Grillo within the evolution of the Italian political system, in the broader picture of the crisis of Western representative democracies. Using both official election data and survey results, the analysis focuses on the quantitative and qualitative change in the electoral base of the Movement. The “identikit” of the 5-Star voter reveals a process of rapid normalization, but, at the same time, clearly confirms the populist and anti-political profile of this party. In a few years’ time, a small anti-party movement has become an outstanding catch-all anti-party party, upsetting the structure of party competition and re-writing the territorial and socio-political coordinates of the Italian electoral market.
The Five-Star Movement:A Catch-All Anti-Party Party
BORDIGNON, FABIO
;CECCARINI, LUIGINO
2015
Abstract
At the Italian General Election held on February 2013, the 5-Star Movement (M5S), a web-based anti-establishment political subject, became the first party at its first national test. This chapter frames the experience of the Movement led by the comedian Beppe Grillo within the evolution of the Italian political system, in the broader picture of the crisis of Western representative democracies. Using both official election data and survey results, the analysis focuses on the quantitative and qualitative change in the electoral base of the Movement. The “identikit” of the 5-Star voter reveals a process of rapid normalization, but, at the same time, clearly confirms the populist and anti-political profile of this party. In a few years’ time, a small anti-party movement has become an outstanding catch-all anti-party party, upsetting the structure of party competition and re-writing the territorial and socio-political coordinates of the Italian electoral market.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
