This book explores the discourses, attitudes and behaviours of professional politicians and ordinary citizens alike characterized by hostility towards the political sphere, political parties and, above all, professional politicians. It furnishes a clear, consistent depiction of the anti-politics phenomenon in general using Italy as a “laboratory” where anti-politics is widespread. After an original reconstruction of the concept of anti-politics, the author charts the rise of Silvio Berlusconi, the success of Umberto Bossi's Northern League, the resounding electoral victories of the Five Star Movement and the League (La Lega), all rooted in the anti-political rhetoric of Italy's leaders and the anti-political sentiment of its population. The author also traces the socio-political profile of the anti-political citizens of the main European democracies. This broad, consistent view of anti-politics will attract academics, journalists and policy makers interested in anti-politics in Italy and elsewhere. Students and scholars of party politics, party leaders, democracy and political participation will also find the volume of great interest.
Author(s): Vittorio Mete
Series: Routledge Studies in Democratic Crisis
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 250
City: London
Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
List of figures
List of tables
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The concept of anti-politics
Anti-politics – a successful term
Dictionary meanings
Meanings attributed to the term by the social sciences
Studying anti-politics
2. Anti-politics prior to anti-politics: Citizens and politics in Italy after the Second World War
A golden age?
The advent of anti-politics: the Common Man
Against partitocracy
The anti-politics of civil society
Silvio Berlusconi, the anti-politics politician governs the country
3. The League: Anti-politics of struggle and anti-politics in government
The original anti-politics of the Northern League
The historical nemesis: the scandals and the crisis
Rebuilding the League, demolishing politics
4. The centre-left: Between democratic innovation and the “scrapping” of the old political class
Participation induced by the institutions
The “invention” of party primaries
The rise and fall of an “outsider” leader
5. The Five Star Movement: Anti-politics in the form of a new party
A new anti-political party
The social and political grounds for the emergence of the Five Star Movement
The anti-politics of the Five Star Movement: inside, and outside of, the institutions
Normalisation: anti-politics gets sucked into politics
6. A socio-political profile of anti-political citizens
Are Italians more anti-political than the citizens of other democracies? A comparative analysis
The anti-political citizens of the First and Second Republics
Today's anti-political citizens
Conclusions
Bibliography
Index
