Janus-Faced Populism? The Politics of the Italian Coalition Government and the New National Assertiveness

The Conte government in Italy is unique in Western Europe in being composed exclusively of populist parties. Indeed, the unparalleled salience of populism in the national political scene (including the international stature of leaders such as Matteo Salvini) has led some foreign partisan commentators, like Steve Bannon, to refer to the country as the political laboratory of the future. As such, it has become an ideal test case to adjudicate theoretical debates on populism and governmental responsibility. Specifically, there exists a dynamic of both collaboration and competition between the two government partners, the Lega and the Five Star Movement, embodying very different versions of populism: while the former views the people under the guise of culturally exclusionary nativism, the latter has a ‘demos-based’ approach to collective identity. How do the two distinct projects of identity creation coexist in practice in governmental activity, and what shape do the inevitable compromises that characterize a coalition government take in this case? Building on our previous work (Parliamentary Affairs, 2019), the present paper intends to contribute to the analysis of this crucial test case through an investigation of three signal policies of the Italian populist government: Minister Riccardo Fraccaro’s plan for a constitutional reform introducing citizen’s ballot initiatives (referendum propositivi), the flagship universal basic income measure (reddito di cittadinanza), and the similarly defining anti-immigration package (decreto sicurezza). Interpreting these issues as key symbolic politics for the government coalition, we study their roll-out, implementation, and communication through three methodological tools: an analysis of parliamentary debate, a historical contextualization within the longue durée of Italian anti-political sentiment, and a series of semi-structured interviews with mid-level practitioners in the run-up to the European elections of May 2019. Our main interpretive prism in this endeavor is the relationship between Italian governmental activities and international commitments deriving from membership of the European Union, related to rule of law, financial stability, and freedom of movement. In particular, we test the proposition that the equilibrium point between the populist narratives of the two government partners is a new discourse of national assertiveness vis-à-vis the European institutions and partners (of which we identify forerunners in previous attempts at defiance by the Renzi and Berlusconi governments). Hence, the legitimacy of government action comes to rely on a redefinition of Italian national identity in a more assertive and less conciliatory posture. In assessing the structural constraints on policy success, we speculate on what the outcome portends for the future of populist politics in Italy.