The Five Stars continue to shine: The consolidation of Grillo’s ‘movement party’ in Italy

In many countries of Europe, the growth of new political parties is undermining the stability of traditional party systems with their bi-polar (or two-party) formats. Among these parties, the Five Star Movement (M5s) is perhaps the most interesting, this due to the speed of its growth and the originality of its organisational style. Despite the predictions of observers and opponents, it continues to hold centre stage in Italian politics. The article retraces the phases of the Movement’s development and consolidation from the point of view of its electoral performance, its internal organisation and the socio-demographic and ideological profiles of its voters, concentrating on the most recent period. In particular, it focuses on the difficulties that emerged in the wake of the European elections of 2014. Entering representative institutions, the M5s has accepted the need to revise, at least partially, the principles it followed with complete intransigence during the initial phase of its existence. On the programmatic front, it has progressively broadened its purview so as to become a genuine catch-all party. The ‘elective affinities’ between the parties of the Italian political system ensure that M5s voters are open, so to speak, both to the Ln on the right and to the various parties representing the traditions of both the radical and the moderate left. On the organisational front, it has bowed to the need to adopt a structure that is to some degree hierarchical. This was particularly visible between 2014 and 2015 thanks to the birth of the so-called Directorate.