The Italian radical right: Going mainstream?

Abstract

The 2018 general elections in Italy saw the emergence of what has been called the first populist government of Europe (Garzia, 2019). Given the hung parliament after the elections, an alliance between M5S and Lega led to the so-called Government of Change. The new coalition government configuration could be considered part of a broader realignment taking place in the Italian party system post-2008, with the 2013 general elections constituting a turning point. Even if they parted ways after the summer of 2019, the govern experience of Lega under Salvini’s leadership made the party the undisputable leader of the right in Italy.