Much to the surprise of political analysts, pollsters, party leaders, and the voters themselves, in the February 2013 Italian national elections, the Five Star Movement (MSS) obtained more votes cast in Italy for the Chamber of Deputies (25.56%) than any other political party. Only thanks to the votes of Italians living abroad was the Democratic Party (DP) capable of winning the electoral majority bonus. The overall figures are impressive: M5S Chamber of Deputies 8,784,499; PD 8,932,615. In Europe’s post–World War II electoral history, no other party in its first national competition has gathered an amount of votes comparable to the one obtained by the Five Stars. Interestingly enough, the second-best-placed organization in the European ranking is another Italian political movement: Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia (Go, Italy) that in its first showing, March 1994, polled 8,136,135 votes (21.01%) to become the most voted party. One important difference to stress is that Forza Italia had not competed in any previous national or local election, while the Five Star Movement had tested the ground in some local and regional elections. In a way, its “brand” was somewhat already known.
The chapters written explicitly for this valuable edited volume provide an in-depth analysis of the most important features of the Five Star Movement: the organization, the activists, the electoral base, the members of Parliament, the role played by the Web in the formation and functioning of the movement, the motivations of the voters, the “post-ideological” nature of the movement, and the organizational and ideological reasons for the truly astonishing success.
The material collected and analyzed is impressive, and it illuminates the assets and liabilities of comedian Beppe Grillo’s adventure in Italian politics. What becomes clear and should never be forgotten is that behind this political success story is a lot of social and political work. Most of the Five Star “citizens” (as they want to be called) were elected to Parliament because they had acquired some visibility and trust through their activities in conflicts and movements at the local level. The platform created and managed by Grillo and his advisor and top collaborator, Gianroberto Casaleggio, requires a lot of time and energy and is an indispensable component of the movement. It may not be true, as Grillo and his activists claim, that by means of the Web they produced a situation in which all have the same political weight, and that authentic democracy is what distinguishes the movement from the other Italian political actors. And it is not true, as the authors repeatedly stress, that there is no leader. In too many instances, there is someone—Grillo himself—who makes the most important decisions of them all, especially whether to reprimand or to expel those guilty of violating what is called the “non-Statute” of the movement. On the other hand, it may indeed be true that the Five Star voters and their political representatives show several contradictions—that they are not consistent in their beliefs and in their political stances.
In one of the most intriguing chapters of the volume, Pasquale Colloca and Piergiorgio Corbetta find that there are four types of voters for the Five Star Movement: leftist consistent, rightist consistent, inconsistent post-ideological, and inconsistent confused. Their major finding is worth quoting: “[T]he high level of inconsistency seen in M5S voters is due to the above-average presence of those voters whom we have called ‘post-ideological,’ that is, politically well-informed individuals who nevertheless display contradictoriness with regard to the left-right ideological axis” (p. 205). They conclude that “the lack of unifying principles” may expose “the movement to the risk of electoral collapse” (p. 209).
Throughout the volume, most of the authors find contradictions: A movement that claims to be democratic in its practice rarely appears inclusive, unwilling to rely on transparent procedures that provide and enforce accountability, or incapable of doing so. A movement that claims to be open and fluid (perhaps, à la Baumann “liquid”) has been obliged to strengthen some structural features. “The rhetoric of an internet-based party,” writes Filippo Tronconi, “is to a large extent exaggerated” (p. 218). “The truly original aspect of the organization of this party lies in the interconnection between virtual and physical arenas of recruitment and activism” (p. 219). Even though this interconnection seems to be working in a more than satisfactory way, as shown by Lorenzo Mosca in his chapter that indicates how most M5S activists have played a significant role at the local level and have learned some techniques, Tronconi concludes his chapter, and the volume, with a strong and skeptical note of caution: The survival and the consolidation of the movement are not guaranteed. If it does not go beyond antiestablishment protest and does not define a set of coherent issues, “it might fade as fast as it appeared” (p. 227).
This is a position shared by Colloca and Corbetta, who are very critical of a political culture that “currently appears to have muddled features and blurred outlines” (p. 210). Rinaldo Vignati stresses that “the M5S has so far lacked a leader capable of transforming [its] consensus into truly incisive political action” (p. 26). How incisive an opposition party can be when and where it is not willing to enter into a coalition remains to be seen. However, the chapter by Luca Pinto and Andrea Pedrazzani, “From ‘Citizens’ to Members of Parliament: The Elected Representatives in the Parliamentary Arena,” clearly indicates that following a not-so-long process of “socialization” and learning, the Five Star parliamentarians are playing the game according to the rules and obtaining more than minor successes.
Practically speaking, all the authors have reservations, formulate doubts, predict problems, both political and organizational, and identify contradictions within the M5S and in its activities and policies. The future seems to be bleak. On the basis of the very material they offer to the readers, I believe that a different, albeit slightly problematic, assessment and forecast is possible. First, as Pinto and Pedrazzani underline, the M5S probably is “the only truly ‘national’ party in Italy” (p. 87). Moreover, all Italian social and demographic categories are represented in its electorate; the youngsters, the students, and the unemployed are slightly overrepresented (which is good for the future). Having won seats in almost all municipal and regional elections as well as in the European elections, the M5S has become rather well entrenched, definitely not declining. None of the most important issues on which the movement is thriving has been solved. Indeed, the “no Euro” campaign finds a lot of space, and the movement has acquired the ownership of a major issue: “minimum guaranteed income.” No reason for protest and dissatisfaction has disappeared from the Italian political landscape, and those who want to channel their protest into a vote know perfectly well that their best vehicle is the Five Star Movement.
At this point in time, Grillo, Casaleggio, and the activists may have two serious preoccupations: one defined by the political agenda, the other by the structure of the movement. The first preoccupation is produced by the recently approved new electoral law whose main feature will oblige the movement to choose and launch a candidate for the office of prime minister. This political imperative may create tensions. The (long-term) structural preoccupation is to find a leader capable of performing the many roles Grillo has successfully played in the past 10 years. However, as things stand now and as even the skeptical chapters of this valuable volume prove, the Five Star Movement is in good health, alive, kicking, and growing.
