The encounters of populism: An examination of the Italian Five Star Movement

This thesis investigates the case of the Italian Five Star Movement (Movimento 5 Stelle-M5S) within the context of the current rise of populism in Western European countries. The study evaluates the program, targets, aims, rhetoric, strategy and ideology of the Five Star Movement in order to answer why it is considered a populist movement. The Italian Five Star Movement is a crucial example to study because of its differences from other populist movements, parties and politicians in Western European countries which are mostly rightist. The aims and program of the M5S contained arguments which were closer to the leftist political ideology during its first years of foundation but over the time, the movement accepted and defended thoughts, ideologies that have come closer to the rightwing ideology. Thus, the question what are the features of the M5S that makes it a populist movement. The thesis adopts the ideational approach of Cas Mudde and Christobal Rovira Kaltwasser and situates the M5S within the political history of Italy focusing on the post WW2 period and its features conducive to prevalence of populism in the country. Through a discussion of the reasons for the emergence of M5S, it's founding, its evolution into a political party, its involvement in Italian local and national governments through the years between 2005 and 2018, this thesis argues that M5S is populist movement, however it is actually a multi-faceted movement and demonstrates a unique example of populism.