Podemos and the Five-star Movement: populist, nationalist or what?

The resounding electoral successes of the Italian Movimento Cinque Stelle (Five-star Movement, M5S) and the Spanish Podemos (We can) in recent years, have attracted the attention of many political scientists. The two parties can be considered a new kind of anti-establishment party with values incompatible with those of the radical-right parties. From a normative standpoint, two main allegations have been made against the two parties: both have been considered ‘populist’ and, in some ways, ‘nationalist’. Still, the academic literature so far lacks a detailed analysis of the nature of their alleged populism and nationalism. In this article, I argue that both parties share a populist stance, while the label ‘sovereigntists’ rather than ‘nationalists’ is more appropriate in both cases.