All eyes on Italy in February 2013
The results of the parliamentary election in Italy in February 2013 have arisen high interest in the media, national and international research: Movimento 5 Stelle (Five Star Movement), with its leader and new player in the political arena Beppe Grillo, has caused an earthquake in Italian politics by running for the first time in the general elections and reaching one third of the electorate. The leader accentuates himself from traditional Italian politics by combining online appearance and offline local mobilization with horizontal “franchise” structures, but applies a top-down-management and decision-making process (Bordignon/Ceccarini 2013: 1). His strategy consists of fueling distrust against the established parties and he gains some kind of admiration, respect and credibility by denying any political affiliation or coalition. With reference to the election’s results that no party or coalition will be able to govern Italy – especially – European leaders raise the question of how the political situation of an “ungovernable Italy” could have happened. One plausible answer is that the success of the Italian protest movement could be just the tip of the iceberg, namely the emerging power of people in Europe fighting against austerity policy of national governments and the European central bank (Teichmann 2013). From grassroots to national policy level people start changing
the political agenda by taking actions for their future via mobilization and participation. The advent of the Five Star Movement is just one of the shifts that are taking place in Italy’s political landscape, having in mind the come-back of the radical left in parliament (SEL), an ecologic socialist party in coalition with Pier Luigi Bersani. But nevertheless the M5S is the
most striking one in terms of leadership and organizational structure by revealing authoritarian characteristics. Otherwise, in this case populism could offer a new orientation and act as an alternative to the traditional national power block and the budgetary austerity, which the European Union imposes on its indebted members. Further the case of the new protest movement in Italy obviously presents a theoretical problem regarding a common notion of Populism.
We cannot determinate right now whether Italy is actually concerned with constructiveminded, positive or else hazardous populism or just with an ineffective outrage of voters who are disenchanted with politics. Albeit it is possible to conjecture how the movement might operate in the future by investigating recent political events in Italy more closely combined with an examination of economic and political diseases of the south European peninsula.
Thereby, the leading question is how the political, social and economic circumstances created a fertile ground for the rise of the Five star Movement and how one can possibly classify the political populist articulation: as a danger or corrective to democracy? In order to answer these questions this paper aims to examine to what extent contents, properties and characteristics of the movement can be identified based on recent scientific literature on populism and research findings of Rovira Kaltwasser (2012). Accordingly, the organizational structure, political views and main innovative features of the movement will be analyzed.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction: All eyes on Italy in February 2013
2. Populism - Lack of agreement and uncertain status in recent literature
3. The Five Star Movement as new (populist) player in the political arena
3.1 The Party’s leader and career
3.2 Agenda and Program
3.3 Organizational model and voters’ participation
3.4 The fertile (non)political ground for the ascension of the "Five stars"
3.5 General elections 24th /25th February 2013
4. Conclusion
5. References
Research Objectives and Themes
This paper examines the rise of the Five Star Movement in Italy, exploring how political, social, and economic conditions created a fertile ground for its success and investigating whether the movement represents a danger to or a corrective for democracy.
- Analysis of the Five Star Movement's organizational structure and political strategies.
- Examination of populism within recent political literature and theoretical frameworks.
- Evaluation of the impact of the 2013 Italian general elections and the movement's electoral success.
- Assessment of the role of "anti-political" sentiment and economic crisis in shifting voter behavior.
- Investigation into the movement's internal democracy and its reliance on the leadership of Beppe Grillo.
Auszug aus dem Buch
3.3 Organizational model and voters’ participation
The movement gained its political strength through the internet as a fast tool for cheap mobilization and deliberation as well as a fundamental element of their notion of democracy. At the beginning the blog was invented to exchange ideas, but soon developed as a means to organize the offline meetings and as an alternative to practice direct democracy via online and offline participation with the electorate (Turner 2012: 2). By doing so the Grillini5 were able to build up a broad network of followers – 933 meet-up groups in 776 cities in 16 countries (M5S Meet-up Groups, March 2013) – and to create autonomy and force vis-á-vis to the established parties.
Hence, one can link the Five Star Movement to similar experiments of direct democracy and “franchise-participation” in Europe, such as various expressions of pirate parties. Nonetheless the M5S has one striking feature which distinguishes them from other pirate movements: Beppe Grillo in his controversial role as leader occupies a particular role within the movement by being the “inspiration and mouthpiece of participation from the bottom up, but, at the same time, he also exercises a total control over the movement’s strategic choices” (Bordignon/Ceccarini 2013: 2). Therefore internal structure and democracy was recently the focus of growing grievance about the top-down management, way of decision making and dealing with party members. The latter caused a stir when two local candidates were dismissed firstly due to a video broadcasted that exactly picked up those weak points and secondly as a consequence of a female candidate’s participation in a famous political talk show (ibidem 2013: 13).
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: All eyes on Italy in February 2013: This chapter introduces the political shock caused by the Five Star Movement in the 2013 Italian elections and outlines the research focus regarding the movement's impact on democracy.
2. Populism - Lack of agreement and uncertain status in recent literature: This section explores the academic struggle to define populism and discusses its potential role as either a pathology or a corrective measure within liberal democracies.
3. The Five Star Movement as new (populist) player in the political arena: This main section details the history, leadership, organizational model, and program of the movement, while analyzing the socio-political context that facilitated its rise.
4. Conclusion: The concluding chapter synthesizes findings, noting the movement's potential as a barometer for representative politics and its reliance on charismatic leadership despite its claims of promoting direct democracy.
5. References: A comprehensive list of academic sources and internet materials used to support the research findings.
Keywords
Five Star Movement, Italy, Populism, Beppe Grillo, 2013 General Elections, Anti-politics, Direct Democracy, Austerity, Political Representation, Liberal Democracy, Radical Democracy, Electoral Behavior, Digital Mobilization.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this paper?
The paper focuses on the rise of the Italian political force, the Five Star Movement (Movimento 5 Stelle), and its significance in the context of recent Italian politics and European populism.
What are the central thematic fields covered?
The study covers populism theory, the organizational dynamics of the Five Star Movement, the history of anti-political sentiment in Italy, and the implications of the 2013 general elections.
What is the primary research question?
The leading research question is how political, social, and economic conditions created a fertile ground for the movement and whether it acts as a danger to or a corrective for contemporary democracy.
Which scientific methodology is utilized?
The paper employs a non-normative research perspective, applying a minimal definition of populism to empirically analyze the movement's organizational structure, political views, and innovative features based on existing scientific literature and case studies.
What does the main part of the work address?
The main part examines Beppe Grillo’s leadership, the movement's agenda (such as the "five stars" mission), its "franchise" organizational model, the historical context of Italian anti-politics, and the outcomes of the 2013 elections.
Which keywords define this study?
Key terms include Populism, Five Star Movement, Italy, Beppe Grillo, Direct Democracy, and anti-politics.
How does the author view the role of Beppe Grillo?
The author highlights the contradiction between the movement's claim of grassroots participation and Grillo's centralized, top-down control over strategic decisions, noting that this creates significant internal tension.
What does the study conclude about the health of representative politics?
The study suggests that the movement's success acts as a barometer for the health of representative politics, signaling that voters' disenchantment with the established political elite has created space for alternative, albeit sometimes authoritarian, political actors.
- Quote paper
- Patricia Weber (Author), 2013, "Five stars” in the political sky of Italy, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/267925
