ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses certain subtler, more sophisticated forms of anti-politics (compared to those adopted by Berlusconi and Bossi) that the Italian centre-left – in particular the Democratic Party – has embraced over the last 20 years or so. Through those local authorities and governments where they hold power, the centre-left parties first promoted a series of new participatory and deliberative practices designed to renew and invigorate democracy. A few years later, they introduced a democratic innovation that was to have an enormous impact on Italian political life and on the political culture of Italian people. This consisted in the introduction of primary elections for the selection of local and national candidates, and for the direct election of the Democratic Party's national secretary. The subtle anti-political message conveyed by these forms of participation prompted by the institutions, and by the introduction of the primaries, is that ordinary people with no particular political allegiances can perform certain key political functions better than the political parties and their activists; functions such as the selection of political candidates or the formulation of public policies. The final part of the chapter looks at Matteo Renzi and his leadership style with its clear anti-political traits. Renzi managed to fast-track his own political career – becoming the youngest Prime Minister in the history of republican Italy – thanks in part to his leadership style. More explicit forms of anti-politics, which are usually the preserve of the political right, began to seep into the centre-left parties as well following the emergence of Renzi as a political leader. Following accusations that he had reneged on his promise to withdraw from politics if he lost the referendum vote on his proposed constitutional reform, Renzi ended up a victim of the very anti-politics he himself had helped foster and was relegated to the margins of politics as a consequence.
