The Five Stars Movement in the Italian Political Scenario. A Case for Cybercratic Centralism?

Abstract

Abstract: With the rapid diffusion of Social Media, grassroots political organizations are starting to use supportive technologies to avoid party representation. The Pirate Party in Germany and the Five Stars Movement (5SM) in Italy are trying to use the interactive democracy paradigm to renew the institutional framework of political representation from the bottom up. This paper aims to analyse the case of Beppe Grillo and 5SM that - after a successful showing in administrative elections – has been involved - for the first time - in a national election (2013). How the 5SM - as a virtual party without a structured organization – will solve the problems related to its institutionalization and how the “proxy vote” will be used in parliament are the main questions, which scholars are debating. It is a unique occasion to see if this emerging model of a political form will evolve into a democratic rather than a cybercratic organization.