FEPS COVID RESPONSE PAPERS October 2020 | #9 THE RE-SHAPING OF THE POLITICAL DISCOURSE IN TIMES OF CRISES THE ITALIAN LABORATORY Summary About the authors: During the last decade, European party systems have experienced a profound overhaul. The emergence of new populist parties – in both the right and left- wing side of the political spectrum, the increasing salience of new issues and the reliance on new modes of communication have radically transformed Giacomo Bottos mainstream political discourse. The Covid-19 pandemic has likewise reshuffled Editor-in-chief, Pandora Rivista all previous political priorities and compelled officeholders and party leaders to calibrate their political discourse accordingly. Against such a background, the authors build on their recently published Eleonora Desiata book “Changing political discourse in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis: the PhD Candidate, Political Science & Sociology, Scuola Normale Superiore Pisa case of Italy” to outline the many reasons for which Italy can be considered a laboratory for the rest of Europe. The southern-European country offers a unique angle to comprehend how populist parties – chiefly Salvini’s Lega and Andrea Pareschi Movimento 5 Stelle – have displayed an impressive agenda-setting power, Lecturer, University of Bologna capable of re-shaping fundamental nodes of political competition. The authors present an appraisal of the discursive stance of Italy’s main political parties through three different lenses: i) representative institutions, ii) notions of citizenship and iii) foreign policy. Crucially, this FEPS Covid Response Paper elucidates how the Covid-19 pandemic has profoundly disrupted the sovereignist and nationalist discourse In partnership with: of populist forces in Italy at a time when issues of health and the strengthening of the state have gained prominent importance. The paper yields findings useful for the management of political communication by progressive forces across Europe. It offers recommendations on what Italy’s main progressive party, the Partito Democratico, should do in order to increase its ability to determine Italy’s political agenda: a better use of digital platforms, replacing neutral language with political-charged vocabulary, and the embracement of consistent frames and narratives. The re-shaping of the political discourse in times of crises: the Italian laboratory Giacomo Bottos Editor-in-chief, Pandora Rivista Eleonora Desiata Ph.D. Candidate, Political Science & Sociology, Scuola Normale Superiore Pisa Andrea Pareschi Lecturer, University of Bologna Table of contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 2 2. The conundrum of democracy and institutions ............................................ 2 3. Contesting the boundaries of citizenship: a map .......................................... 1 3.1. Migration, security and citizenship ........................................................... 1 3.2. Culture ....................................................................................................... 3 4. Foreign and European policy ......................................................................... 2 5. Conclusions: an agenda for European progressives in times of Covid-19 .... 5 About the authors ................................................................................................ 3 The Re-shaping of the Political Discourse in times of Crisis: The Italian laboratory 1. Introduction For politicians, pundits and ordinary citizens the case of Italy, was conceived. There we set interested in the changing landscape of politics out to retrace the transformation of political in European countries since the Great discourse in Italy between 2013 and 2019, Recession, the case of Italy is noteworthy and considering wider changes in Italian politics – in some respects – even paradigmatic. through the lens of the communication Characterised until recent years by a streams put forward by the main parties. In population displaying widespread support for doing so, we focused on four leading parties the EU and by political elites largely mirroring ranging from the right to the left: Lega, Forza such Europhile leanings, Italy was hit hard by Italia, Movimento 5 Stelle and Partito the sovereign debt crisis and then greatly Democratico (PD). We first prepared the way affected by soaring migration flows in the by reviewing the complex conceptual relations 2010s. Coming on top of domestic between populism, nationalism and self- circumstances, these two crises played a part described ‘sovereignism’, before pointing to in breaking the mould of the Italian party long-standing historical roots that have system, paving the way for the rise of two created a fertile breeding ground for the ‘challenger’ parties – the Movimento 5 Stelle contemporary populist challengers in Italy. The (M5S) and Salvini’s rebooted Lega – which, book then features three chapters dealing with after the 2018 general election, would even go broad policy domains: Democracy and on to form the first self-described populist Institutions, covering the relationship of government in a founding member of the citizens with the state, its institutions and the European communities. political class; Boundaries of Citizenship, mainly tackling welfare, immigration and There are grounds to believe that the last security; and Foreign and European Policy, decade of Italian politics provides a particularly including the European dimension and vivid example of trends that have involved international relations. many other European member states as well. The patterns of competition between political Since the end point of the evidence analysed in forces have become more blurred and less our book, marked changes have once more linear amidst greater volatility, dragging in the taken place in the Italian political system. As EU as a bone of contention in its own right and things now stand, Salvini’s Lega tops the polls giving birth to previously unseen coalitions. with a slowly declining 25 per cent of the vote, There have been profound transformations in followed by the stagnating Partito the agenda of salient issues and in the Democratico with 20 per cent, and by the resonance of political discourse, and the very Movimento 5 Stelle which has stabilised at 16 language of politics has been dramatically per cent. While the appeal of Forza Italia has swayed. The parties of the centre-left and the been reduced to well below 10 per cent, the centre-right, seemingly incapable of either radical right group Fratelli d’Italia is now the buttressing their policy platforms or reframing second-largest party on the right, polling more them in persuasive ways, have faced at than 15 per cent of voting intentions. The main different times an erosion in their respective change in Italian politics since last year, public support. Last but not least, re-emerging anyway, has been the downfall of one demands for social protection have been met government and the birth of another. In by ‘challenger’ political forces – and especially August 2019, Salvini’s abrupt decision to pull by nationalist ones – with exclusionary the plug brought down the so-called ‘yellow- rearticulations of ideas on the welfare state green’ government. The surprising result of the and access to it. ensuing crisis, however, was the establishment of a new ‘yellow-red’ government, again led by It is against such a background that our book, Giuseppe Conte and involving an uneasy recently published by FEPS, Changing political coalition between the Movimento 5 Stelle and discourse in the aftermath of the 2008 crisis: The Re-shaping of the Political Discourse in times of Crisis: The Italian laboratory the Partito Democratico, together with a few fainter, a crucial place was entrusted to the minor parties. communication of the prime minister. Finally, with the pandemic bringing experts and The outbreak of Covid-19 then brought a scientific knowledge to the fore, virologists dramatic change in the situation. Once again quickly became public figures in their own Italy turned out to be a laboratory, as it was the right, although their insulation from party first European country needing to arrange a political struggles soon wore off in the strong response to the raging pandemic. For this debates between them. reason, highlighting the reaction of the Italian political system to Covid-19 is extremely This policy paper aims to pinpoint the main interesting. The discourse of nationalist and findings of the research carried out in our populist forces was profoundly disrupted by book, and also to suggest how the pandemic the crisis, especially in the lockdown phase of has influenced Italian political discourse during the pandemic. Nevertheless, a context of the recent months. Therefore, the following fragility – both in the institutions and in the three sections of the paper both summarise parties’ political culture – was clearly revealed. the outcomes of our analysis in the three The difficulties faced by political parties and by aforementioned domains and update the the institutional system in converging on a picture with reference to the aftermath of the shared view of the common interest and in Covid-19 outbreak. The concluding section developing overall strategies to counter the then draws a few significant lessons that will disease led to a centralisation of the response be of use – or so we hope – to the political in the hands of the government.