Vittorio Mete's work is a rigorous and accurate analysis, which, on the one hand, explores a relevant phenomenon from a comparative perspective, retrieving some traditional interpretative arguments from past analyses of the longitudinal transformation of the Italian political system. On the other hand, the volume opens up a new perspective, helping us to understand some more recent dynamics underpinning a change in the attitudes of political actors and public opinion. The question from which the entire work stems is relatively simple: how can we study the paradox of a political system, long supported by a solid – albeit not always happy – relationship between public opinion and politics, which has instead become a permanent laboratory for the production of anti-political values following the crisis of the party system of the so-called ‘First Republic’ between 1992 and 1994?

The book is structured in a way that allows the author to address this overarching question. First and foremost, he focuses on the growing significance of the concept of ‘anti-politics’ by developing a careful review of the literature, which allows him to extract those meanings that can be useful in capturing the transformations of the last three decades. Subsequently, in the central chapters of the book, he addresses the evolution of discourse and values of several political actors who have determined the transformation of anti-politics in Italy. Mete does not forget to trace various useful references to the warnings issued before the crisis of the party system – particularly the anti-party criticism that has always been present in part of Italian society since the times of Guglielmo Giannini's Fronte dell'Uomo Qualunque (Front of the Common Man) – and the phases of exaltation of movements and leaders who positioned themselves as antagonists to the dominant model of ‘party government’ that consolidated during the decades of the First Republic. Moreover, the author highlights the emergence of the phenomenon of the personalisation of politics, which accompanied the success of the criticism of organised politics and parties from the times of Tangentopoli to the present day.

The recent history of Italian anti-politics, therefore, is summarised very effectively in the central chapters of the volume, which touch upon recent milestones of the Italian anti-political experience: firstly, the successful (re)appearance of the myth of the self-made man and the launch of the idea of a ‘new Italian miracle’ by Silvio Berlusconi at the time of his entry onto the political scene in 1994; then, the evolution of the populist parties of the last 15 years, and the style of leaders who have drawn from this narrative. In particular, the volume dwells on the leaders of those same ‘outsider parties’ – the Movimento cinque stelle (Five Star Movement) the Lega (League) and more recently, the former far-right post-fascist Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy) – who have been capable of imposing the thin ideology of populism. However, those personalities from the mainstream parties who, like Matteo Renzi, former leader of the Partito Democratico, have been able to conquer the party and offer alternative styles of leadership are also relevant in this analysis because they have somehow challenged the system with their anti-political arguments. The narrative of ‘scrapping’ the pre-existing political class of the centre-left, pursued by Renzi, is probably the most evident example.

Mete's analysis, which relies on a wide review of the literature and secondary sources as well as survey data, highlights various recurring elements underlying the success of anti-political sentiments developed at different times by significantly different actors. This leads the author to propose an explanation of the transformation that characterised the anti-political sentiment of a relevant (and growing) part of Italian society, which is put forward in the last substantive chapter of the volume. The analysis, based on the construction of a comparative index of anti-political sentiment in public opinion, shows that the Italian system is not, in absolute terms, a deviant case. Nonetheless, it highlights very pronounced elements of persistence – and, indeed, some of incremental consolidation – of the anti-political stances within Italian society.

Many factors can explain this delicate situation, and the author addresses them with intellectual honesty, eschewing the temptation to draw hasty and sensationalist conclusions, as is often the case with opinion makers and scholars tackling the difficult relationship between political elites and civil society in Italy. On the contrary, Mete seems to suggest the need for a somehow confident attitude towards politics and those who practise it. In the concluding part of the volume, indeed, two elements are framed as crucial future tests for the persistence of democracy in Italy (and beyond): the ability of the political class to regain sufficient trust from public opinion; and the ability of the entire political community to find agreement on the fundamental political values to anchor social life, following the model that marked Italy's rapid transition from a defeated and destroyed country to one of the engines of European reconstruction in the aftermath of the enactment of the republican constitution.

These concerns are crucial, obviously, for the Italian case, which is at the core of the volume. However, they constitute a very useful contribution to the general discussion on the state of politics (and, therefore, anti-politics) in all the contemporary democracies. This contribution remains within the Weberian tradition of empirical study of politics dedicated to the defence of democracy. At the same time, it proposes an innovative case study and a series of original stimuli for both theoretical discussion and a comparative study of phenomena related to anti-political sentiments.