The polyvalent populism of the 5 Star Movement

Abstract:

Widely recognised as a populist party within a context of mutating populism, ideational approaches have taken only a marginal role in the analysis of the issues of the Movimento 5 Stelle (5 Star Movement, M5S). This article elaborates on the supply side of the M5S and shows how its populist frame has been able to incorporate ideological features attributed to the ‘new politics’ of the libertarian left as much as the ‘new populism’ of the radical right.

Such a peculiarity is conceptualised in terms of polyvalent populism – a variant of populism that rests on concomitant ideological discordance, newness, and radicalness. The theoretical argument is complemented by the analysis of Beppe Grillo’s political supply over the span of his ‘long decade’ between political activism and the electoral breakthrough of the movement party.

The analysis also demonstrates that those contentious issues that have often caused public clamour and offered room for convergence between the M5S and the Lega on a shared governmental platform (2018) were already part of Grillo’s discourse – though often unspoken in official programmatic documents.