Digital Capitalism and the End of Politics: The Case of the Italian Five Star Movement

Abstract

In the Italian national elections in 2013, the Movimento Cinque Stelle (Five Star Movement, M5S), founded just four years earlier, gained 25 percent of votes, more than any other party. Analyses and interpretations are divided between those who consider M5S a member of the family of European populism and those who see M5S’s propositions as akin to the values of the left and social movements. The debate on M5S fits into the context of important ongoing trends in European politics: the growth of populist political movements; the emergence of outsider parties able to challenge stable political systems; changing relationships between parties and social movements; changes in the forms of political organizing. This article investigates the political and cultural nature of this party by (1) analyzing its discourse on democracy, its organizational choices and its main issues; (2) comparing these elements with populism and the left; and (3) linking its fundamental characteristics to contemporary economic processes usually termed “digital capitalism.”

Heritage and Nationalism

“…In contrast to the League, with its nearly three decades of history, in 2018 5SM was the newest party in the Italian parliament. It was led by the Italian comedian, Beppe Grillo, who had made frequent television appearances during the 1980s before being sidelined -possibly due to the politically-heated content of his satire that addressed difficult themes such as corruption and pressing environmental issues (Caruso 2017). During the 1990s Grillo began performing in theatres.…”

“…During the 1990s Grillo began performing in theatres. Here he met with increasing success that has lasted until the present day (Caruso 2017). After one of his performances, the comedian encountered the web marketing expert Gianroberto Casaleggio, who subsequently began to manage the blog beppegrillo.it.…”

“…After one of his performances, the comedian encountered the web marketing expert Gianroberto Casaleggio, who subsequently began to manage the blog beppegrillo.it. Casaleggio also encouraged Grillo to use the meetup.com platform to launch the network Friends of Beppe Grillo (Bordignon and Ceccarini 2015;Caruso 2017;Tronconi 2018).…”

From post-work to post-capitalism? Discussing the basic income and struggles for alternative forms of social reproduction

“…Against leftist aims, one possible destination of the UBI is in the policy agendas of contemporary authoritarian national‐populists. It has already been adopted by the Five Star Movement in Italy “as a substitute for all existing social safety provisions linked to work and unemployment” whereby “[b]eneficiaries must declare immediate availability for work, attend training courses, participate in job interviews, and perform activities that are useful to the community in their municipality of residence” (Caruso, ). In the most interesting turn yet, it was announced recently that the government of Nerendra Modi in India is considering its implementation (Economist, ).…”

Are digital parties the future of party organization? A symposium on The Digital Party: Political Organisation and Online Democracy by Paolo Gerbaudo

“…What is reassuring is to see the wealth of highquality research that is developing in this area, including the work of book reviewers themselves, and some of the work they have cited in the article. See for example, the work of Deseriis (2017), Vittori (2017), Caruso (2017) and Mosca (2014Mosca ( , 2018 and of Casero-Ripollés et al (2016) on Podemos as the examples of a growing field of investigation and debate, that is likely to grow and develop further in coming years. This is the best evidence that something significant is happening to the party system, something that is bound to redefine the way in which organizations operate, and the role of political parties in Western democracies.…”