The personalization of Italian political parties in three acts

Personalization is the most relevant political phenomenon of our time. With the weakening of the structural and ideological foundations of Western democracies, a radical shift from collective to individual actors and institutions has occurred in several political systems. Since the 1990s, Italy has provided one of the most evident examples of the rapid shift from particracy to the centrality of political leaders. The forerunner of the incisive changes leading to this centrality, Berlusconi’s Forza Italia provided a new model of party organization by combining dominance of the leader with a direct relationship with citizens. During the last two decades, such a model has largely proved able to prosper through successful appeals to citizens located on both the left and right sides of the political spectrum. Yet, especially since the 2013 general election with the rapid rise of the Five-star Movement, it has become increasingly clear that personal parties have been changing their scope and organizational structures through the extensive use of new technologies. This article aims at understanding the evolution of personal parties by investigating how they organize and communicate with their supporters, with particular reference to Italy’s new brand of populist party.