About this project

This long-running strand of research examines Italy’s Five Star Movement (M5S) as a paradigmatic case of the “digital party”. It traces how online participation, intra-party democracy, candidate selection, and leadership influence are shaped by the affordances of the multiple platforms the movement has relied on — from Beppe Grillo’s Blog and the M5S forum and Meetup to Facebook and the party’s online primaries.

Across these studies the project asks what digital platforms do to the internal life of political organisations, and what the M5S experience implies for participatory democracy and the role of parties in democratic systems more broadly.

Draft description — please refine. Funding and publications below are generated automatically from any item whose front matter lists projects: [five-star-movement].