The Evolution of the Five Star Movement: From Digital Platform to Traditional Organization?

The Five Star Movement (M5S) emerged in the 2010s as a major political force reaching 32.6 per cent of the vote in the 2018 general elections, and reaching the premiership of the national government. Beyond its antipolitics appeal, which represented its major drive for success, it was characterised by a peculiar organisation. In fact, the M5S, started as a "digital party" with a fluid horizontal structure and a strong belief in “web democracy” to ensure citizens’ participation. Thus, digital technologies have played a pivotal role. However, in recent years, the movement is undergoing a process of internal organizational redrawing. The present paper aims to examine this transition, with a particular focus on the evolution of the M5S's local structure, and its relationship between central organization and local party offices. Through qualitative analysis based on semi-structured interviews with M5S leaders and activists, this research seeks to understand the underlying motivations for this transformation and the challenges the movement is facing. The paper investigates whether presence of the party in representative assemblies at each level is related to the relaxing of the emphasis of Internet as a source of party activity, and whether it induces an institutionalisation process. The interviews of representatives in five different regions spread all over the Italian territory provide information on these aspects. This analysis contributes to a broader understanding of the organisational change political parties are undergoing in the present time. The findings will offer insights on how digital parties, which based their organisation on the web, either keep their original imprint and/or endure a process of institutionalisation along more traditional lines. Ultimately, this study will shed light on the complex interplay between digital technologies, organizational structures, and political parties in the 21st century.