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When Anti-Politics Becomes Political: What can the Italian Five Star Movement Tell us about the Relationship Between Populism and Legalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2019

Abstract

Populist politicians have to deal with a foundational paradox, i.e. ruling without being contaminated by the corrupting influence of power - Strategies to shield populists’ political actions from the accusations that populist parties have flung against pre-existing elites – The Italian Five Star Movement as a populist political discourse resorting to legalist strategies – Legalism as a way of introducing political reforms as mandatory actions, required by some sort of exclusionary, pre-existing legal rule rather than the product of ideological confrontation and political compromise – Populism as an anti-political response to factionalism – Lottery system, absolute neutrality and the end of politics

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Articles
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© 2019 The Authors 

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Footnotes

*

Professor of Philosophy of Law, University of Enna ‘Kore’, Sicily.

References

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40 The so-called Decreto Sicurezza and Decreto Sicurezza bis, see also Law n. 132, 1 December 2018.

41 To read the dialogue between the Ministry and the State Advocacy, seewww.sviluppoeconomico.gov.it/images/stories/documenti/parere-avvocatura-ilva-compressed-web.pdf〉, visited 12 August 2019.

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43 Although there are several reasons for the substantial slow-down of public procurements in cities throughout Italy, the situation of the Municipality of Rome, which is governed by a Five Star Mayor, has become particularly serious.

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56 A.C. n. 1173, 19 September 2018 and the accompany report by Minister Fraccaro. See also G. Grasso, ‘Le «Mouvement 5 Étoiles» et les défis de la démocratie représentative: à la recherche d’une notion constitutionnelle de populism?’, Percorsi costituzionali (2017) p. 207 ff; P. Bilancia, ‘Crisi nella democrazia rappresentativa e aperture a nuove istanze di partecipazione democratica’, 1 Federalismi.it - Focus Democrazia diretta vs democrazia rappresentativa (2017) p. 2 ff.

57 The internal regulations of each House of the Parliament currently provide that any Bill presented pursuant to Art. 71 must be taken into consideration. The Senate regulation even prescribes a timeline, see Reg. Camera, Art. 104, co. 4; Reg. Senato, Art. 74, co. 2 e 3.

58 A.C. n. 3124.

59 Report accompanying the reform, 〈documenti.camera.it/_dati/leg18/lavori/stampati/pdf/18PDL0028960.pdf〉, visisted 12 August 2019.

60 Ibid.

61 Ibid.

63 M. Luciani, ‘Referendum e forma di governo’, in Associazione per gli studi e le ricerche parlamentari, Quaderno n. 7, Seminario 1996, Torino, Giappichelli, 1997, p. 97.

64 S. Rodriguez, ‘I limiti della democrazia diretta. L’iniziativa popolare nell’esperienza svizzera e statunitense, con uno sguardo all’Italia’, Riv. trim. dir. pubbl. (2017) p. 451.

65 P. Pasquino, ‘Popolo o élite? Il referendum propositivo e la retorica della democrazia diretta’ in La Costituzione.info, 23 April 2019, 〈www.lacostituzione.info/index.php/2019/04/23/popolo-o-elite-il-referendum-propositivo-e-la-retorica-della-democrazia-diretta/〉, visited 12 August 2019.

66 R. Bin, ‘Riforma della Costituzione: l’introduzione del referendum propositivo’, in Itinerari Costituzionali, at 〈www.lacostituzione.info/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Incontro-cattolica-RB.mp3〉, visited 22 August 2019.

67 I am referring to the so-called caso Diciotti, seequestionegiustizia.it/doc/trib_catania_decreto_salvini.pdf〉, visited 12 August 2019.

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69 Ibid., p. 273.

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72 Paul Blokker makes the opposite argument with regard to right-wing populist movements in Eastern-Central Europe. Blokker argues that populist engagement with the law in Eastern-Central Europe includes a reaction to what is portrayed as legal fundamentalism or an excessive juridification of society: Blokker, supra n. 47. I will take such a diversity of opinions to be evidence of the variety of populist movements’ performance in power.

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80 Ibid., p. 270.

81 The idea that judges could take part in the populist fight is not limited to the Italian case. See for example the case of Brazil, D. Werneck Arguelhes, Judges Speaking for the People: Judicial Populism beyond Judicial Decisions, VerfBlog, 4 May 2017, 〈verfassungsblog.de/judges-speaking-for-the-people-judicial-populism-beyond-judicial-decisions〉, visited 12 August 2019.

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83 H. Arendt, ‘Collective Responsibility’, in H. Arendt, Responsibility and Judgment (Random House 2005) p. 147-155.

84 Ibid., p. 150.

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87 US historian Hofstadter has claimed that populists are like bees: once they sting they die, see R. Hofstadter, The Age of Reform: From Bryan to F.D.R. (Random House 1955).

88 See, for example, the debates on the concept of the people, which result from the conference called Sum, organised on a yearly basis by Casaleggio and Associati. For Sum#03, seewww.gianrobertocasaleggio.com/sum-2019/〉, visited 12 August 2019.

89 H. Kelsen, La democrazia [1929] (Il Mulino 1981).

90 Urbinati, supra n. 36.

91 Krygier, supra n. 14.

92 The literature on the inner morality of law is ample. For formal morality, see L Fuller, The Inner Morality of Law (Yale University Press 1965); for the opinion that the rule of law incorporates thicker moral principles, see, for example, T. Bingham, The Rule of Law (Penguin Books 2011); see also the Rule of Law Checklists issued by the Venice Commission in March 2016, 〈www.venice.coe.int/webforms/documents/default.aspx?pdffile=CDL-AD(2016)007-e〉, visited 12 August 2019.

93 Krygier, supra n. 14; see also Krygier, supra n. 45.

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