Transformation of the Populist Discourse after the 2018 Italian Elections
Vojtĕch Vanĕček et al.
What the paper says
This study examines how populist discourse evolves when parties transition from opposition to government responsibility, with a focus on the unique case of Italy's 2018 coalition government, formed by the Lega and the Five Star Movement (M5S). The paper addresses three research questions (RQs): RQ1: How does populist discourse change when moving from opposition to government? RQ2: Can two ideologically divergent populist actors coexist discursively in a coalition? RQ3: How does institutional accountability reshape populist communication? Building on the typology of inclusionary versus exclusionary populism and theories of discursive adaptation, the study relies on a qualitative content analysis of party manifestos, coalition agreements, and public statements from 2018 to 2019. The study is designed as a theory-informed exploratory case study, rather than a hypothesis-testing design, reflecting the qualitative nature of the analysis. The analysis identifies asymmetric discursive adaptation: the Lega consolidated its exclusionary, nativist populism, while the M5S shifted from a techno-populist stance towards a more restrictive, security-oriented discourse framed in terms of administrative efficiency. The findings contribute to comparative populism research by highlighting the dynamics of a dual-populist coalition—a context rarely studied—and by extending theoretical frameworks of populism in government.
Evidence weight
Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40
| F · citation impact | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
| M · momentum | 0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07 |
| V · venue signal | 0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03 |
| R · text relevance † | 0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20 |
† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.