Contemporary populism in Italy: The Five Star Movement

• Other Authors: Michelmann, Hans
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: populism; Grillo; five stars movement; Italy; digital; utopia
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10388/ETD-2014-10-1768

The thesis focuses on the Five Star Movement, a political movement in Italy based on an Internet blog, which was founded by the Italian comedian Beppe Grillo and which in just four years from its birth received the greatest number of votes in that country’s 2014 European election. The thesis focuses on the rise of 5SM, which was established in a critical political and economic context that provided a fertile environment for its founder’s antiestablishment platform and rhetoric. The structure, ideology and actions of the 5SM movement are examined as are the political and economic contexts in which it arose and now operates. The 5SM is analyzed as a product of an Italian political culture where populist leaders have dominated the political scene for many years. The thesis asks whether this movement can be defined as populist, using as a framework for analysis the work of Mény and Surel “Democracies and the Populist Challenge” (2002), by comparing the 5SM to other European anti-establishment political parties and movements.