Which organization for which party? An organizational analysis of the Five-star Movement

Abstract

While challenger parties are on the rise in Europe, there has been little attention paid so far to their organization. Even though new parties enjoying path-breaking electoral success soon after their foundation tend to lose votes at their second electoral contests, due among other things to their organizational structures, some parties stand as exceptions. Among them, the Five-star Movement is the most prominent such party in Europe. The party has undergone a number of major organizational changes in the last 10 years, which have halted its institutionalization process, but whose impact on electoral success were, at first sight, less relevant. How did the party deal with the issue of internal reforms and how did these internal reforms change the party structure? This article retraces the party's transformations and tests hypotheses related to three competing interpretations of the Movement's organization: those that see it as a business-firm party, a franchise party and a party movement. Eleven years after its foundation, I contend that the Movement should now be analysed as a 'plebiscitarian' movement party.

Party Types in the Age of Personalized Politics

“…These parties had empowered leaders, relatively empowered members, and weak party institutions. This combination could be labeled "plebiscitarian" (Vittori 2021) and may substantiate the claim that the classification is not about a continuum but a power triangle between individuals, the group, and the leader.…”

“…But this is not about all individuals. Even in a very open and participatory party, people need to act to influence others, and most people at most times—even party members—will be passive (van Haute and Gauja 2015). I thus label those who are active as “party activists” (Schumacher, de Vries, and Vis 2013).…”

The Impossible Stability? The Italian Lower House Parliamentary Elite After a “Decade of Crises”

“…Second, the last decade saw two critical general elections (2013 and 2018) and the formation of a "volatile and tripolar" party system (Chiaramonte and Emanuele, 2013) with the rise of the M5S. Third, new personalized, populist, and sovereignist parties, such as the abovementioned Five-Star Movement and the Northern League, have played important roles, even at the executive level (Ivaldi et al, 2017;Albertazzi et al, 2018;Caiani et al, 2021;Vittori, 2021). Fourth, much different governments have appeared in the past few years in Italy: just between 2018 and 2021, three governments, corresponding to three different parliamentary majorities 5 , including the current technocratic-led government headed by Mario Draghi.…”

Are Political Staffers out of Touch with Grassroots Party Members? Assessing Congruence between Professionals and Volunteers

“…In a similar vein, it is generally acknowledged that the priorities of staff-driven organizations differ from those dominated by volunteers (Bolleyer and Correa, 2020). Despite the professionalization of party organizations and the emergence of parties with strikingly different membership models (Mazzoleni and Voerman, 2017; Vittori, 2020), most parties follow the so-called ‘subscriber democracy model’ where paying members get a formal say in internal decision-making (Poguntke et al, 2016).…”