Populism, Institutional Malfunctioning and Regeneration of the Democracy

Although still relatively young, the study of comparative populism has made big strides in recent decades and is currently one of the most thriving areas of academic research. The approach of this paper is to focus on three mechanisms to explain the rise of populist movements across Europe. They are politicization of resentment, exploitation of social cleavages, and polarization of resentment and feelings of non-representation. We conceptualize populism as a strategic power game aiming to transform potential majorities into real ones by creating or reframing social cleavages. The theoretical model is used to explain the rise of the modern populism organized into movements or parties across Europe and particularly in Italy, Spain, Greece and France. In Italy, the "Movimento 5 stelle" (M5S), a political movement originated from an Internet blog, founded by the Italian comedian Beppe Grillo, in just four years from its birth received the greatest number of votes in the country 2014 European election. The theoretical model elaborated explain the rise of M5S, which was established in a critical political and economical context that provided a fertile environment for its founder's anti-establishment platform and rhetoric.