A reality check on populist representation in Southern Europe: the cases of Podemos and the Five Star Movement

In the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis, Southern European party systems were shaken by the rise of populist and anti-establishment parties. The Five Star Movement and Podemos are arguably the most successful examples among these new populist parties, as they reached parliamentary representation, and eventually government, only a few years after their formation. Both parties thrived in the crisis of representation affecting Italian and Spanish politics, denouncing the poor conditions of democracy and the out-of-touchness of mainstream political parties, while promising to truly represent people’s interest and deliver on their promises. In this chapter, I draw on mandate theory to analyse how these parties have performed their representative function once in parliament. In a two-step process, I first assess the congruence between the electoral and the parliamentary issue agendas of the two parties, relying on an analysis of party manifestos and legislative bills; second, I assess the extent to which the parties delivered on their electoral promises, as well as the conditions explaining when pledge fulfilment is more or less likely.