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The Italian populist party, the Movimento Cinque Stelle (Five-star Movement, M5s), has experienced significant organizational changes, each of which has marked a different phase of its development. We can identify four phases: the gestation phase (2009–2012); its entry into Parliament (2012–2017); the first experience of government (2017–2019); the transformation into a ‘state-centred’ party struggling with endless organizational restyling (2019-ongoing). The academic literature linking populism to party organization is still scarce, as scholars have mainly focused on other questions (e.g. the different approaches to defining populism, its socio-political roots, its regional paths, its communication style), or have studied ideology and party organization separately. This contribution aims at bridging the gap by investigating the organizational evolution of the M5s. Using the theoretical framework of the ‘three faces’ of party organization, and drawing on a qualitative analysis of the party’s official documents, it identifies the actors representing each of the three faces during the different phases of evolution of the M5s and examines the power relations between them. The findings highlight that the M5s is distinct from other contemporary parties, as it has continued to be dominated by the party in central office despite its institutionalization and ‘occupation’ of the State. This organizational distinctiveness can be related to its populist ideological underpinnings.

The three faces of a populist party: insights into the organizational evolution of the Five-star Movement