Abstract
The epoch of the long ’30s and ours share a quintessential characteristic: They are both chaotic scenarios of dramatic institutional and economic experimentation and adjustment, intended to reshape the fundamental social and political structures in response to the emergence of new subjectivities defying the traditional tools of capture and governance. More specifically, the new great transformation we are experiencing is due to macro-and micro-effects both of the “success” and the crisis of neoliberalism. To contribute to a growing sense of awareness and orientation about the present, this chapter critically examines the political communication strategies enacted by MoVimento 5 Stelle and Lega in Italy, as emblematic cases of new populism comparable with the characteristic expressions of the authoritarian collectivism of the ’30s. These phenomena are relevant not only for understanding the vicissitudes of the single state, but more generally for the ongoing rearrangement of international relations.
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Notes
- 1.
Unfortunately, the amount of violence effectively expressed today, though differently manifested (Buscema 2019), cannot be considered dissimilar at all in comparison with the long ’30s.
- 2.
“From now on, the mob, begotten by the monstrous accumulation of capital, accompanied its begetter on those voyages of discovery where nothing was discovered but new possibilities for investment. The owners of superfluous wealth were the only men who could use the superfluous men who came from the four corners of the earth. Together they established the first paradise of parasites whose lifeblood was gold. Imperialism, the product of superfluous money and superfluous men, began its startling career by producing the most superfluous and unreal goods” (Arendt 1949, 151). Such an alliance was based on the fact that “the upper classes knew that the mob was flesh of their flesh and blood of their blood” (107), but it was a very dangerous bet (124).
- 3.
A Latin term that literally meaning “somewhere else.” Here it refers to the strategy normally used to push forward systemic contradictions.
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Buscema, C. (2020). The New Great Transformation: The Origins of Neo-Populism in Light of Systemic Cycles of Accumulation. In: Rayner, J., Falls, S., Souvlis, G., Nelms, T.C. (eds) Back to the ‘30s? . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41586-0_6
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