FOUNDATION FOR EUROPEAN PROGRESSIVE STUDIES FONDATION EUROPÉENNE D’ÉTUDES PROGRESSISTES CHANGING In the aftermath of the 2008 global crisis, the Italian political landscape has been reshaped by the rise of populist and right-wing nationalist POLITICAL DISCOURSE parties and movements. Progressives who have tried to respond to the growing demands for social protection have had to do so in a CRISIS context marked by exclusionary articulations of ideas of welfare state IN THE AFTERMATH and public intervention. Together with these changes came radical transformations in the very language of politics, also influenced by OF THE 2008 CRISIS 2008 the emergence of social media as key channels of communication. In this book, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) THE and Fondazione Gramsci present a four-part study by historians and THE CASE OF ITALY OF political scientists that seeks to examine these processes in their different dimensions. Centring around Italy, this book stresses the key role that national traditions and national responses to globalisation play in shaping different framings of nationalist and populist dis- courses. At the same time, its analyses and results speak to broader European concerns. The transformation of the language of politics aftermath and the impact of exclusionary anti-establishment messages affect most EU countries and represent crucial challenges for all European THE democracies and for European progressive forces. Understanding IN these processes is the first step towards addressing them. iscourse L D L itica L po • This book is published by FEPS and Fondazione Gramsci with the financial support of the European Parliament. HANGING • Contributors: BOTTOS Giacomo, DESIATA Eleonora, C Giacomo BOTTOS DI DONATO Michele, PARESCHI Andrea Eleonora DESIATA • ISBN number 978-2-930769-33-2 Andrea PARESCHI CHANGING POLITICAL DISCOURSE IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE 2008 CRISIS THE CASE OF ITALY Published in April 2020 by: FEPS – Foundation for European Progressive Studies Rue Montoyer, 40 (4th floor) – 1000 Brussels, Belgium T: +32 2 234 69 00 - www.feps-europe.eu [email protected] - Twitter: @FEPS_Europe Fondazione Gramsci onlus Via Sebino 43a – 00199 Rome, Italy T: +39 06 58 06 646 Website: www.fondazionegramsci.org FEPS project coordinators: Hedwig Giusto, Maria Freitas Fondazione Gramsci project coordinators: Michele Di Donato, Angela Romano English language editor: Nicole Robinson This study was produced with the financial support of the European Parliament. This study does not represent the collective views of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies or Fondazione Gramsci, but only the opinion of the respective author. The responsibility of the Foundation for European Progressive Studies and Fondazione Gramsci is limited to approving its publication as worthy of consideration for the global progressive movement. Layout: Giampiero Frattali Cover design: Anna Bodini Printer: The Factory s.r.l. Copyright © 2020 by Foundation for European Progressive Studies, Fondazione Gramsci. ISBN: 978-2-930769-33-2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword Michele Di Donato, Maria Freitas, Hedwig Giusto and Angela Romano ........ 7 Introduction. On discourse categories and their political use: conceptual and methodological foundations of the study Giacomo Bottos, Eleonora Desiata, Michele Di Donato and Andrea Pareschi ............................................................................................... 11 Democracy and Institutions Giacomo Bottos ......................................................................................................... 49 Boundaries of Citizenship Eleonora Desiata ...................................................................................................... 107 Foreign and European Policy Andrea Pareschi ........................................................................................................ 157 Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 207 Contributors ............................................................................................................... 213 Foreword The global crisis of 2007-2008 represented a major turning point for democracies in Europe and worldwide. As social insecurity increased and confidence in the benefits of globalisation seemed to fade, new demands for protection emerged which established political forces have often struggled to meet. It is in this context that challengers of traditional political parties, sometimes belong- ing to the nationalist right, sometimes expounding programmes and worldviews that, for lack of a better definition, have been generically identified as “populist”, have seen their electoral for- tunes soar. Together with these changes came radical transformations in the very language of politics. Social media have become crucial channels of communication, thereby favouring approaches to the dissemination of political ideas that are both more informal and direct but also increasingly simplistic, fragmented, and often brash and confrontational. It is not just the medium, however, that should be blamed for the new features of today’s political messages. The shrinking of the traditional centre-left and centre-right has been matched by an erosion of the ability of traditional parties to build consensus discourses. In their attack on the existing order, challenger parties have adopted an aggressive language among whose tropes figure the exaltation of supposedly uncorrupt national communities imperilled by an invariably hostile outside world, indiscriminate scapegoating of politics and politicians, opposition to international institutions, and even outright xen- ophobic assertions. As a consequence, progressives who have tried to respond to the growing demands for social protection have had to do so in a fractured and antagonistic context, often CHANGING POLITICAL DISCOURSE IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE 2008 CRISIS 7 marked by exclusionary articulations of ideas of welfare state and public intervention. Italy, one of the European countries hit the hardest by the economic crisis, has been particularly affected by the above-mentioned developments. After the collapse, in 2011, of the centre-right government led by Silvio Berlusconi, which was plagued by scandals and apparently unable to respond to the crisis, it fell to a cabinet of “technicians”, supported by a cross- party parliamentary coalition, to take on responsibility for a set of harsh austerity measures. The following general elections, held in 2013, saw the extraordinary rise of the populist Movimento 5 Stelle, which scored a surprising 25.5% at its first participation. The refusal by the Movimento 5 Stelle to cooperate with any of the traditional parties paved the way for five years of grand coalition governments led by centre-left prime ministers (Enrico Letta, Matteo Renzi and Paolo Gentiloni), which could not check the anti-establishment tide. By the time of the 2018 elections, the Movimento 5 Stelle had reached 32%, and the extreme-right Lega of Matteo Salvini 17% (from 4% in 2013). After lengthy negotia- tions, the two parties formed in June 2018 what amounted to the first self-described populist government in one of the founding member countries of the European Union. It is in this context that the idea for this book came about. The Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and Fondazione Gramsci joined forces with a view to bringing about a greater understanding of the transformation of the language of Italian politics in the aftermath of the global crisis as a crucial aspect contributing to the rise of nationalist and populist parties, which gained increasing resonance and moved from the fringes to the centre of the Italian public debate. Besides examining the language and communication strategies of the anti-establishment parties, our objective was to understand and gauge the attrac- tion of their nationalist and populist discourses: how did they influence mainstream centre-right and centre-left parties? Did the 8 CHANGING POLITICAL DISCOURSE IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE 2008 CRISIS latter’s reactions emphasise antagonism and resistance or rather adaptation and attempts at stealing the thunder from the new challengers? In order to achieve these aims, we have turned to the expertise of historians and political scientists who have contributed to a four-part study that seeks to examine these processes in their dif- ferent dimensions. The introductory chapter prepares the ground for an in-depth analysis of three case studies by discussing not only methodological aspects, but also the various approaches to the populist phenomenon and the complex relations between populism, nationalism and self-described “sovereignism”. The introduction also provides historical context on Italian post-World War II politics, thereby showing that recent political developments do in fact draw on different, historically rooted strands of anti-party rhetoric and mobilisation. The ensuing analytical chapters focus on three broad areas – Democracy and Institutions, Boundaries of Citizenship, Foreign and European Policy – and four leading polit- ical parties ranging from the right to the left of the Italian political spectrum: the Lega, Forza Italia, the Movimento 5 Stelle and the Partito Democratico. Thus examining both the internal and exter- nal dimensions of nationalist and populist discourses, the study highlights the interplay between anti-establishment arguments that focus on