Anti-cartel, Catch-all, or What? The True Identity of the Five Star Movement and the Northern League in Comparative Perspective

The rise of populist and anti-establishment parties seems to confirm the prediction that Katz and Mair made in 1995, when they argued that cartel parties would create their own opposition. By focusing on the Italian political scene, this paper seeks to help add a piece to this puzzle. Italy is indeed among the countries where so-called populist parties have considerably increased their blackmail potential in recent years. According to recent electoral surveys, Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement and Matteo Salvini’s Northern League are placed, respectively, first and third in terms of public support. Since polls point to the affinity between the two parties’ electoral basins, a question arises: Is their rise expression of the same phenomenon? The hypothesis underlying this paper is that the Five Star Movement and the Northern League represent two very different types of populist parties, the main differences consisting in their origin and ideology. By scrutinising the latter, this paper not only clarifies further the belief system of these two parties, but also stimulates a discussion on the party family inside which collocate them.