Populism and Electoral Dynamics in Italian Politics

Italy has emerged over the past decade as a crucible for the study of populism and its impact on electoral competition. Traditional centrist parties have seen their vote shares erode amid economic stagnation, high youth unemployment and concerns over immigration. In this environment, parties that combine anti-establishment rhetoric with promises of direct democracy and national sovereignty have attracted substantial support. The Five Star Movement pioneered the use of digital platforms to engage supporters in policy decisions, challenging representative norms and reframing political participation. The Lega has shifted from a regionalist to a national radical-right party by capitalising on issue salience around irregular migration and public safety, while Fratelli d’Italia has consolidated a coherent conservative identity and exercised growing influence at both national and European levels.

These developments have been accompanied by heightened electoral volatility, frequent government reshuffles and unconventional coalition patterns that defy the classic left–right divide. Observers now emphasise a multi-dimensional space in which economic redistributive conflicts intersect with cultural questions such as national identity and EU integration. Populist forces exploit these cleavages by presenting themselves as the authentic voice of “the people” against both global elites and domestic political establishments. The study of this phenomenon in Italy thus offers valuable insights into how grievances linked to socio-economic insecurity, cultural displacement and institutional distrust can reshape party systems and alter democratic representation on a global scale.

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Populism and Electoral Dynamics in Italian Politics publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in populism and electoral dynamics in italian politics across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Populism: A political approach that divides society into ‘the people’ versus ‘the elite’ and champions direct popular sovereignty.

Political cleavage: A deep societal division—economic, cultural or geographic—that shapes party competition and voter alignment.

Issue salience: The degree to which a topic captures public attention, thereby influencing party strategies and electoral outcomes.

Electoral volatility: The extent of change in party vote shares between successive elections, indicating fluctuations in voter loyalty.

References

1. The centre no longer holds: the Lega, Matteo Salvini and the remaking of Italian immigration politics. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (2021).
2. Direct Parliamentarianism: An Analysis of the Political Values Embedded in Rousseau, the ‘Operating System’ of the Five Star Movement. JeDEM - eJournal of eDemocracy and Open Government (2017).
3. Riding the Populist Web: Contextualizing the Five Star Movement (M5S) in Italy. Politics and Governance (2015).
4. Fratelli d’Italia in the European Parliament: between radicalism and conservatism. Contemporary Italian Politics (2023).
5. Faraway, so close: a spatial account of the Conte I government formation in Italy, 2018. Italian Political Science Review/Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica (2021).