The rise of populism is not a new topic. Across the world, populist leaders are being elected as right-wing parties are taking control in some of the most powerful countries in the world: United States of America, Germany, France, Netherlands, Argentina, among others. Most countries are seeing a shift towards populism all within a relatively short period of time. However, one country has had populist parties in their government since World War II. Italy has always had strong nationalist beliefs, but now more than ever populism is ingraining itself in every facet of Italian politics. Is Italy heading towards
Jan-Werner Müller in his book What is Populism? Defines populism as a party with anti-establishment and anti-pluralist beliefs. Political officials play a game of identity politics, framing every issue as “us vs. them” – from immigrants to economic disparities. Müller states populist leaders often claim they are the one representative of the “true people” against a corrupt “elite group,” even when they themselves are often part of the elite. Sheri Burman adds to this in her article “Populism is a Problem. Elitist Technocrats Aren’t the Solution” by stating that populism isn’t the issue but rather the symptom of a failing democracy. Populism occurs when political systems fail to respond effectively to citizens. Elite technocrats that are in power might claim to have the knowledge to fix issues, but in reality they often stray from what the actual public wants. Burman adds that the only way to fix populism is to reinforce the principles of democracy. The opposition needs to become more responsive to citizens to regain the public’s trust in democracy.
The current majority party in Italy is the Fratelli d’Italia (The Brothers of Italy). The party ran on a platform of Euroscepticism, the idea that the integration of European countries within the European Union is disadvantageous to the nation due to the erosion of identity, independence, etc. The FI holds nationalist values and is the largest right-wing party in the nation holding roughly 30% favorability over the last 3 years. The current leader of the party, Georgia Meloni, is also Italy’s first female prime minister, being elected in 2022 and as of 2026 is the third longest serving prime minister.
To understand why this party is so popular, we need to consider Italy’s history. Following World War II, the new Italian Republic had to recover from the losses incurred during the war as well as the brutal civil war that ousted Mussolini. During this recovery period, populism continued to grow in the 1940s and 1950s through the Italian Communist Party and the Italian Social Movement, a neo-fascist party. The Italian Communist Party was actually feared to win the 1948 election until the U.S. government intervened by heavily funding the centrist coalition. Unlike the Nuremberg Trials in Germany, Italy didn’t face as severe of punishment in the aftermath of the war due to Italian cooperation in the final years. While the Italian Communist party faltered as the 20th century progressed, the Italian Social Movement began to moderate and support center-right conservative parties. Eventually the ISM would merge into the main center right party, The People of Freedom (PdL), and the most right-wing members would form the Brothers of Italy in 2012. As the PdL and other centrist parties became increasingly unpopular in the 2010s, the FI rose to prominence as an alternative given that right-wing populism didn’t have the same negative connotation as in other nations like Germany.
Due to Italy’s history with populism and the current popularity of the FI, I don’t expect any change in the current political establishment. Burman’s solution to populism is for the discontented portion of the public to enforce the rules of democracy. I don’t see that happening because the majority of Italy agrees with the nationalist platform of the FI. The long history of nationalism and Euroscepticism in Italy will likely not change and platforms such as FI can lean into that identity to continue their regime.
I really enjoyed reading this, especially the historical depth! I know very little about Italian populism beyond basics about Meloni, so tracing the lineage from the postwar period through the ISM and into the Brothers of Italy gave the analysis more weight and made me feel more knowledgeable about the current outlook. I think Berman’s argument is doing the most interesting work in your piece. Treating populism as a symptom of democratic underperformance rather than a freestanding ideology helps explain why Italy keeps producing populist movements even when the specific parties change. I’d push back a little on your conclusion that change is unlikely. The fact that FI has held around 30 percent favorability rather than expanding meaningfully might suggest the ceiling is lower than the floor, and Italian voters have previously punished incumbents who overstay their welcome. The Italian rejection of Meloni’s judicial reform in the March 2026 referendum is one piece of evidence that the public still has some appetite for institutional pushback, even within a broadly nationalist political environment.
Hi Vedavi, this is a really interesting overview of Italian populism! Your argument about historical continuity is compelling and I think you’re right that Italy is a unique case because right-wing nationalism never got the same postwar stigma it did in other European countries, like in Germany for example. What struck me is how well Muller’s anti-pluralist framework maps onto the FI’s political rhetoric. Meloni’s framing of the EU as a corrupt elite imposing foreign values and eroding the identity and independence of “real” Italians definitely aligns with Muller’s description of populist rhetoric. Pro-EU Italians likely get depicted as enemies of the people rather than legitimate political opponents. This also connects interestingly to Levitsky and Ziblatt’s argument about how democracies die. They emphasize that democratic erosion happens gradually through the normalization of anti-democratic actors by mainstream parties. Italy’s case really illustrates their argument perfectly because the ISM’s slow absorption into mainstream conservative parties over the course of decades is exactly how a fascist movement became legitimized politically. Instead of rising out of nowhere, the FI gained traction in a calculated and insiduous manner. It also shows how the other parties failed to respond to gatekeep democracy from extremists.