.jpg)
printThe decline of populism? Crisis of trust and parties of political alternative in modern Italy
Alekseyenkova Ye.S.,
Institute of Europe RAS, Moscow, Russia, alekseenkovaes@gmail.com
elibrary_id: 249800 | ORCID: 0000-0003-3527-6966 | RESEARCHER_ID: A-8825-2016
Article received: 2024.02.01 15:21. Accepted: 2024.05.06 15:21
DOI: 10.17976/jpps/2024.04.09
EDN: QSTODU
Rubric: Orbis terrarum
For citation:
Alekseyenkova Ye.S. The decline of populism? Crisis of trust and parties of political alternative in modern Italy. – Polis. Political Studies. 2024. No. 4. P. 119-134. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2024.04.09. EDN: QSTODU
Abstract
The phenomenon of populism has been thoroughly studied during previous decades, however, not many researchers analyze those socio-political processes and practices that develop against the backdrop of the arrival of populist parties in the government. At the same time, “populism in power” entails a profound transformation of the populist parties themselves from within and affects the state of society, dissatisfied with the unwillingness of populist parties to immediately fulfill all the promises made by the leaders on the way to power, leading to failure. Thirty years of experience of populism in Italy and the presence of populists in power over the past five years (2018-2024) allow us to assert that: 1) these parties, which positioned themselves as parties of a political alternative and criticized representative democracy, traditional parties and political class, did not bring the promised innovations into politics – new forms of democracy and participation, greater involvement of citizens in politics, and new practices, including internal party ones; 2) the disappointment of society from the ideological transformation of populist parties, unfulfilled promises, and “conciliatory” policies in relation to mainstream parties can contribute to further distrust in political parties and the abandonment of political action as such in favor of a different repertoire – direct social action, providing a horizontal type of trust and solving socio-economic problems in the short term through grassroots social interaction. Direct social action has become an alternative to the manifestation of political protest and other types of political action. Society is being depoliticized, the level of political activity is decreasing, and at the same time the degree of horizontal integration and the use of direct social action of a latent protest nature is increasing, allowing to expect its possible future politization. The paper contributes to the debate on the evolution of the phenomenon of populism and its socio-political consequences.
Keywords
populism, Italy, democracy, political parties, trust, direct social action, party systems, European Union.
References
35 Rapporto Italia. (2023). Documento di sintesi. Roma: EURISPES. https://eurispes.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/sintesi-rapporto-italia-2023.pdf
Albertazzi, D., Giovannini, A., & Seddone, A. (2018) ‘No regionalism please, we are Leghisti!’ The transformation of the Italian Lega Nord under the leadership of Matteo Salvini. Regional & Federal Studies, 28(5), 645-671. http://doi.org/10.1080/13597566.2018.1512977
Alekseenkova, E.S. (2022), Transformation of right-wing populism in Italy in 2018-2022: from sovereignism to patriotism. Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 92(Suppl 7), S667-S674. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1019331622130123
Andretta, M. (2018). Protest in Italy in times of crisis: a cross-government comparison. South European Society and Politics, 23(1), 97-114. https://doi.org/10.1080/13608746.2018.1434456
Bardi, L. (1996). Anti‐party sentiment and party system change in Italy. European Journal of Political Research, 29(3), 345-363.
Bosi, L., & Zamponi, L. (2015). Direct social actions and economic crises: the relationship between forms of action and socio-economic context in Italy. Partecipazione e Conflitto, 8(2), 367-391. http://doi.org/10.1285/i20356609v8i2p367
Bosi, L., & Zamponi, L. (2019). Resistere alla crisi. I percorsi dell azione sociale diretta. Bologna: Il Mulino.
Bosi, L., & Zamponi, L. (2022). Solidarietà, mutualismo, resistenza: l’azione collettiva in Italia dalla crisi economica a quella pandemica. La Rivista delle Politiche Sociali / Italian Journal of Social Policy, 1, 89-106.
Cantarano, G. (2000). L’antipolitica. Il viaggio nell’Italia del disincanto. Roma: Donzelli.
Catanzaro, R. (2018). After and beyond amoral familism: the impact of the economic crisis on social capital Italian-style. South European Society and Politics, 23(1), 47-62. http://doi.org/10.1080/13608746.2018.1435386
Chiaramonte, A. (2023). Italy at the polls. Four lessons to learn from the 2022 general election. Contemporary Italian Politics, 15(1), 75-87. https://doi.org/10.1080/23248823.2022.2163453
Della Porta, D. (2013). Can democracy be saved? Participation, deliberation and social movements. Cambridge: Polity.
Della Porta, D., Andretta, M., Fernandes, T., O’Connor, F., Romanos, E., & Vogiatzoglou, M. (2017). Late neoliberalism and its discontents. Cham: Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-35080-6
Forno, F., & Graziano, P. (2014). Sustainable community movement organisations. Journal of Consumer Culture, 14(2), 139-157. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540514526225
Gerbaudo, P. (2019). Are digital parties more democratic than traditional parties? Evaluating Podemos and Movimento 5 Stelle’s online decision-making platforms. Party Politics, 27(4), 730-742. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354068819884878
Hirschmann, A. (1970). Exit, voice and loyalty: response to decline in firms, organizations and states. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Ignazi, P. (2020). Party change and citizens’ retrotopia. Contemporary Italian Politics, 12(4), 498-515, http://doi.org/10.1080/23248823.2020.1863649
Laclau, E., & Mouffe, Ch. (2001). Hegemony and socialist strategy. London: Verso.
Lupo, S. (2000). Il mito della società civile. Retoriche antipolitiche nella crisi della democrazia italiana. Meridiana, 38-39, 17-43.
Mair, P. (2009). Representative versus responsible government. MPIfG Working Paper, 09/8. Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne.
Mastropaolo, A. (2000). La mucca pazza dell democrazia. La destra radical-populista e la politica italiana. Meridiana, 38-39, 45-81.
Mastropaolo, A. (2008). Politics against democracy: party withdrawal and populist breakthrough. In D. Albertazzi, & D. McDonnell (Ed.), Twenty-First Century Populism (pp. 30-48). London: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230592100_3
Mudde, C. (2004) The populist zeitgeist. Government and Opposition, 39(4), 541-563.
Mudde, C., & Rovira Kaltwasser, C. (2012). Populism and (liberal) democracy: a framework for analysis. In C. Mudde, & C. Rovira Kaltwasser (Ed.) Populism in Europe and the Americas: Threat or Corrective for Democracy? (pp. 1-26). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Norris, P. (2002). Democratic phoenix: reinventing political activism. Cambridge: Harvard University.
Pizzorno, A. (1996). Mutamenti nelle istituzioni rappresentative e sviluppo dei partiti politici. In P. Bairoch e E. Hobsbawm (a cura di), La storia dell’Europa contemporanea (pp. 961-1031). Torino: Einaudi.
Putnam, R., Leonardi, R., & Nanetti, R. (1993). Making democracy work: civic traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Rosanvallon, P. (2008). Counter-democracy. Politics in the age of distrust. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rovira Kaltwasser, C. (2012). The ambivalence of populism: threat and corrective for democracy. Democratization, 19(2), 184-208. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2011.572619
Ruzza, C. (2010). Italy: the political right and concepts of civil society. Journal of Political Ideologies,15(3), 259-271. http://doi.org/10.1080/13569317.2010.513862
Seddone, A., & Valbruzzi, M. (2020). Beyond the crisis … resilience and adaptation. Italian political parties and their organizational transformations. Contemporary Italian Politics, 12(4), 394-410. https://doi.org/10.1080/23248823.2020.1853376
Tocqueville, A. (2000). Democracy in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Vtoroi respubliki [Political process in modern Italy: anti-politics and populism of the Second Republic]. Alekseenkova, E.S. (2023). Politicheskii protsess v sovremennoi Italii: antipolitika i populizm epokhi Moscow: Institute of Europe RAS. (In Russ.)
Makarenko, B. (2022). Fragmentation of European party systems: prerequsities, scenarios, sequences. World Eсonomy and International Relations, 66(12), 16-26. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.20542/0131-2227-2022-66-12-16-26
Maslova, E., & Shebalina, E. (2021). Party-political system transformation in Italy. Contemporary Europe, 2, 111-123. (In Russ.) http://dx.doi.org/10.15211/soveurope22021111123
Philippova, L.E. (2018). “Politicization” vs “depoliticization”: the search for alternative strategic projects and possibilities of political field structuring. Political Science (RU), 2, P. 95-115. (In Russ.)
Sergeev, V.M., Kazantzev, A.A., & Petrov, K.E. (2017). The policy of “mainstream” and its alternatives in the modern western world: on the way from the world economic crisis to “impossible politics?” Polis. Political Studies, 3, 8-29. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.17976/jpps/2017.03.02
Content No. 4, 2024
See also:
Suvakovic U.,
Political parties as traditional mechanisms of representation in modern societies. – Polis. Political Studies. 2010. No2
Patrushev S.V.,
Civil activity: institutional approach. Prospects for research. – Polis. Political Studies. 2009. No6
Shapiro Ien,
Democracy and Civil Society. – Polis. Political Studies. 1992. No4
Makarenko B.I., Petrov I.I.,
Dynamics of the spectrum of European political parties (1990-2021). – Polis. Political Studies. 2023. No1
Nikovskaya L.I., Skalaban I.A.,
Civic Participation: Features of Discourse and Actual Trends of Development. – Polis. Political Studies. 2017. No6
.jpg)
.jpg)
