Party models and political leadership: the case of the Five Star Movement

The article delves into the transformation of political parties within contemporary democracies, focusing on the case of the Five Star Movement (M5S) as an exemplar of the “personal party” model, wherein political power is increasingly concentrated around individual leaders at the expense of collective party structures. This trend reflects a broader shift in democratic governance, emphasizing individual political actors over ideological or programmatic party competition. The M5S, emerging in the Italian “populist paradise”, showcases the impact of personalization on the organizational dynamics and institutionalization process of political parties. The study explores the theoretical frameworks appropriate for analyzing the M5S's organizational structure and leadership style, highlighting the unique blend of personale authority and media-driven engagement strategies that define its approach to political mobilization. Through an empirical examination of the M5S's evolution from its founding to its current status, the article sheds light on the challenges and opportunities presented by personalization in political party development. It critically assesses the M5S's contribution to the discourse on party models and leadership in political science, suggesting that the M5S represents a hybrid entity that challenges traditional categorizations, thereby necessitating a reevaluation of how personalization influences party institutionalization. Finally, the article proposes a classification of each phase in which m5s’s life may be divided in connection with any analytical dimension of party institutionalization, intended both as a process and as a product of political personalization inside the party.