Postmodern Interpretation of the Rise of Populism in Italy in the Context of the Offensive Against Liberal Democracy

Kochanov Evgenii Andreevich Master's Degree, Department of Foreign Regional Studies and Foreign Policy, Russian State University for the Humanities 125047, Russia, Moscow, Miusskaya Square, 6 evgeniy-2910@yandex.ru

Introduction

In 2022, parliamentary elections were held in Italy, according to the results of which the center-right coalition won. For the first time in the history of the republic, a woman, Giorgia Meloni, who adheres to far-right views, became Prime Minister of the country, and representatives of her Brothers of Italy party won the majority of seats in parliament.

The right-wing populist League party occupies a special place in the coalition, and its eccentric leader Matteo Salvini has been appointed Minister of Infrastructure and Deputy Prime Minister in the new government.

The success of populists in Italy is accompanied by numerous scandals, the controversial course of Matteo Salvini, his racist statements, and frequent changes of position on one issue or another. Despite this, the influence of populists in Italy continues to grow.

This process is considered in the study through the prism of the works of postmodern scientists – J.F. Lyotard ^[1], J. Der Derian ^[2] and J. Baudrillard ^[3]. The phenomena they described were used by populists to discredit liberal democracy and achieve their own goals.

A number of monographs and scientific articles by reputable researchers such as P.V. Oskolkov ^[4], S.E. Knyazeva ^[5] are devoted to the phenomenon of new populism in Italy, and attention is paid to the influence of the religious factor in V.E. Yazkova's monograph ^[6].

The research was conducted using historical-descriptive and comparative-political methods. To determine Matteo Salvini's political course on migrants and refugees, a content analysis of his Instagram page was conducted ^[7] (owned by Meta Corporation, recognized as extremist in Russia).

The evolution of the populist triumph in Europe

For a long time, liberal democratic values have been the basic values of the EU. However, after going through new challenges, the liberal democratic paradigm of Europe has cracked, which has led to an increase in the influence of right-wing radicals and populists throughout Europe.

One of the main European values is freedom, protection and respect for human rights, equality and solidarity, which is indicated in such fundamental EU documents as the Maastricht Treaty ^[8] and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights ^[9].

One of the first prerequisites for the beginning of the decline of liberal democracy was the financial crisis of 2008, which caused many to lose faith in the stability of the global economic system and the market economy – one of the basic principles of liberal democracy.

At about the same time, the rise of populist and right-wing radical parties began in Italy and throughout Europe. In the 2008 Italian Parliamentary elections, the Northern League party won 60 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 25 in the Senate, which is almost twice as many as in the previous elections in 2006.^[10] In 2009, they also improved their results in the European Parliament elections in Italy. In the same year, comedian Beppe Grillo founded the populist 5 Star Movement party.

The real triumph for populists, eurosceptics and right-wing radicals was the elections to the European Parliament in 2014, in which they won or strengthened their positions in France, Great Britain and other countries ^[11].

P.V. Oskolkov, at the very beginning of his monograph "Right-wing populism in the European Union", notes that in 2017 "populism" became the "word of the year" according to the Cambridge English Dictionary and refers to the results of a survey of European political elites, in which almost half of the respondents called populism the main threat to the EU ^{[4, p. 7]}. This is quite obvious, since populists initially contrast the "corrupt political elites of the EU" against the "common people", "them" against "us".

In 2018-2019, the leader of the League party, Matteo Salvini, served as head of the Interior Ministry, where he distinguished himself with a scandalous anti-immigration policy. In the 2019 elections to the European Parliament, populists from the League and the 5-Star Movement collectively won more than half of the votes. In the autumn of 2022, populists took up major positions in the new government, and the leader of the League, Matteo Salvini, became deputy prime minister and Minister of Infrastructure.

Why are Europeans, and especially Italians, so attracted to populism? This phenomenon is facilitated by the natural processes of the postmodern world.

The "Disintegration of meta-narratives" as one of the phenomena of the postmodern world

One of such phenomena is the "distrust of meta-narratives" by Jean-Francois Liotard ^{[1, p. 10]}. Quite vividly, along with the collapse of meta-narratives, it manifested itself during the COVID-19 pandemic, which in turn dealt a serious blow to the authority of liberal democracy.

The stories created by Italian populists are split into several smaller ones, and those, in turn, continue to split into others and so on. As an example, one can imagine Salvini's attitude towards the pandemic and sanitary restrictions.

At the earliest stage, when the virus seemed to be a "distant" problem for Europe, it demanded that ports be closed in order to get rid of its two main enemies at once – migrants and coronavirus ^{[12, p. 353]}. Then, the EU became the enemy, which did not help Italy get out of the crisis and delayed with sanitary restrictions. Later, Salvini's third enemy was green passes, restricted movement, and mandatory vaccination. In all three cases, he managed to capture the most widespread public opinion and play to the public to increase his own rating.

Such an ambiguous position and splitting of stories undermines faith in reality. It turns out the so-called "doctrine of disagreement for the sake of disagreement." Ilyin's dictionary of postmodern terms indicates that such "disagreements lead to the fact that any generally accepted opinion or concept is considered as a danger lurking for a modern person at every step of the absorption of his consciousness by another "value system", a system of meta-narrative" ^{[13, p. 132]}.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the rise of populism in Italy: global surveillance and surveillance and the religious issue

Other postmodern phenomena are associated with the COVID-19 pandemic – global surveillance and surveillance, which James Der Derian noted back in the late 1980s. He wrote that modern security is inextricably linked with surveillance and control ^{[2, p. 17]}.

Surveillance and control do not correspond to the values of liberal democratic democracy - freedom of movement, privacy.

The introduction of the Green Pass, the curfew, and compulsory vaccination did not correspond to the Italians' idea of liberal democratic freedoms. They didn't like being treated like children. Moreover, the actions of Italy and the EU were slow, and despite the restrictions, mortality remained extremely high. Thirdly, faith in liberal democracy has been shaken by the violent crackdowns with batons, tear gas and water cannons of weekly protests against restrictions not only in Italy, but throughout Europe as a whole. The fact is that there was a misunderstanding between the government and the people. The government presented people as obscurantists who are afraid of vaccinations and consider the pandemic a simulation. However, in fact, most people were unhappy with the restrictions due to the fact that they lost their jobs, income, and the opportunity to spend time with their loved ones, which is very important for an Italian. Some restrictions were completely absurd, such as, for example, the need to wear a mask on an empty street ^[14].

The religious factor also played a big role, since the church for Italians is something special that follows them from birth to death and is one of the key features of the Italians' identity. Much attention is paid to this issue in V.E. Yazkova's monograph "The Catholic Church in Italy facing the challenges of modernity: the evolution of approaches and interpretations." She writes that the coronacrisis has caused great trauma to religious identity. Italians became disillusioned with the government, which refused to "see the church among the "essentials"" ^{[6, p. 21]}.

The closure of churches and the holding of masses in an online format were regarded by many believers as a triumph of science over religion and a violation of freedom of worship. A separate blow was associated with the lack of the ability to carry out relatives who died from COVID in accordance with Catholic rites and the death of COVID-19 patients alone.

Disillusioned with the state's approach to religion, Italians saw salvation in populists, who, in their opinion, are defenders of traditional values. Even before the coronavirus, it was noted that, despite Salvini's conflict with Pope Francis, a significant number of believers vote for the League party ^[15]. Salvini himself attracted the attention of believers, for example, by demonstrating Catholic symbols for electoral purposes and by appealing to the Virgin Mary ^[16].

Creation of myths, images and simulacra by populists

The next phenomenon that Italian populists actively use is the creation of images and myths. They clearly divide society into "friends" and "enemies", "us" and "them", "elite" and "people".

From the very beginning of his activity, the image of the "enemy" for Salvini was occupied by illegal migrants from Africa and the Middle East. The liberal Democratic agenda provides for assistance in the integration and adaptation of refugees, but many Italians see them as a threat, the reason for the growth of crime, including terrorism and the threat of cultural substitution. Salvini takes negative factors out of context and presents them to his audience in a strictly negative way. He has repeatedly expressed support for women and children who are fleeing military operations, while men from countries where there is no war (for example, Bangladesh or Tunisia ^[17]) arouse Salvini's particular hatred.

A side effect of creating an enemy image and dividing society into "good" and "bad" is the emergence of double standards, which Salvini is often accused of.

The most striking example of such an ambiguous position towards migrants. Content analysis of publications on the social network Instagram (owned by Meta Corporation, recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation) proves, firstly, its contradictory attitude towards various groups of migrants and refugees, and secondly, the use of this topic for its own benefit.

Three categories were considered – mentions of refugees from Africa and the Middle East. The main context of this category in Salvini's publications is the crimes they committed, the migration flows to the island of Lampedusa and the denial of Salvini's accusations that he is a racist.

The second category is posts dedicated to Ukraine. Among them are pacifist posts, mentions of refugees before March 8, 2022, and protests against the supply of weapons to Ukraine after March 8, 2022.

After March 8, 2022, he was accused of double standards due to simultaneous support for Ukraine and pro-Russian sentiments, as well as a positive attitude towards Ukrainian refugees compared to a negative attitude towards African and Middle Eastern migrants. Therefore, after this date, the frequency of publications about Ukraine began to gradually decrease, and criticism of Salvini increased.

The third category is posts dedicated to Russia. These include the denial of the League party's connection with Moscow, the energy crisis and the harm of economic sanctions and restrictions in the field of Russian culture and sports.

Thus, 2 months before the start of the special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, 7.32% of posts were dedicated to migrants from North Africa and the Middle East. After February 24, 2022, 6.7% of posts were devoted to them (2 of them had a topic related to Ukrainian refugees), and 28.23% were devoted to the Ukrainian crisis and assistance to Ukrainian refugees, and in the first two weeks 89.8% of all posts were devoted to the topic of Ukraine. Another 0.96% of the posts were dedicated to Russia.

In the period from 04/25/2022 to 06/25/2022, 1.56% of posts were devoted to Ukraine, 2.5% to Russia, and 9.69% to Muslim migrants. From 06/26/2022 to 08/26/2022, the maximum number of posts was devoted to them - 13.15%. Most likely, this was due to the upcoming elections in Italy. Only 1 out of 464 posts during this time was dedicated to Russia, and none to Ukraine.

In the next two months, 9.17% of posts were devoted to Muslim migrants, 2.92% to Russia and 1.25% to Ukraine. In the last 2 months of 2022, the intensity of mentions of all three categories decreased, which may be due to Salvini's achievement of his main goal – strengthening in power. Consequently, there is no need to remind on your page about the problems that are relevant to Italians. 7.5% of posts were devoted to Muslim migrants, and there were no more mentions of Russia and Ukraine ^[7].

Thus, the creation of an enemy image by Italian populists can be considered a political myth. According to P.V. Oskolkov, much attention was paid to political myths by the French researcher Raoul Girardet, who defines a political myth as a "legendary narrative" that "performs an explanatory function, helps to understand the present, turn the chaos of facts and events into a coherent and logical picture ^{[4, p. 18]}.

The creation of myths and images was characteristic of Benito Mussolini's populism. His political propaganda was based on myths referring, for example, to the Roman Empire.

In modern Italian populism, the construction of images follows almost the same pattern. Salvini himself has repeatedly made references to Mussolini, quoted him, and in the Italian and foreign media, both figures are often contrasted. D. Filmer's scientific article is devoted in detail to the opposition of Salvini and Mussolini. In conclusion, the author concludes that cultural stereotypes about "fascist Italy", Salvini's harsh anti-immigration policy, his xenophobic and racist statements also play an important role in this ^{[18, pp. 347-348]}. All this raises concerns among liberal democratic circles about the increasing influence of the far-right in Europe.

The creation of simulacra is another postmodern phenomenon described in the 1980s by J. Baudrillard: "There is no more mirroring between being and its representation, between the real and its concept. There is no more imaginary proportionality: genetic miniaturization becomes the dimension of simulation" ^{[3, p.6]}. This means that the line between the real and the fictional is gradually blurring.

Candidate of Philosophical Sciences A.V. Pankratova conducted a large study on the difference of concepts. According to her, "myth is always at the foundation of life, it is the foundation on which conclusions are built and actions are performed. A simulacrum, on the contrary, is a consequence, result, result of an activity that takes place in a certain paradigm" ^[19]. Thus, the myth is something that was created initially, and the simulacrum is already the result of this activity. Baudrillard wrote: "To simulate is to pretend that you have something that you don't have" ^{[3, p. 7]}. For example, the League party, using social networks and regular events, simulates the fact that it is omnipresent and remembers every voter.

S.E. Knyazeva writes in her article that the Italians perceived the populists "at the level of genetic memory, the legacy of Athenian philosophy, logic, the idea of Protagoras from Abder that a person is "the measure of all things" and takes responsibility for his choice ^{[5, p. 53]}.

The roots of the rise of populism, of course, lie deep in the history of Italy since the time of the Roman Empire. Over the centuries, as S.E. Knyazeva writes, "The vector of political culture was formed – the rejection of the dictate of power" ^{[5, p. 53]}. Thus, Italians had their own image of values that differed from the traditional European values of liberal democracy, which, in turn, is used by populists (primarily Matteo Salvini) to achieve their goals – power. He successfully achieves this goal by strengthening his position following the results of the elections in September 2022, becoming deputy prime minister in the new cabinet, despite the fact that in the media back in 2019 he was called the most powerful Italian politician and warned that he was striving for even more power ^[20]. 

Of course, the problems highlighted by populists exist, but the vague and ambivalent position makes one wonder how seriously the populists themselves take them, and not only use them to strengthen power and manipulate people.

Conclusion

Italian populists see that the postmodern processes of the modern world are not correlated with the image of liberal democracy represented by leftist circles in the EU and the United States. Liberal democracy has discredited itself by failing to confront new threats. Thus, Italians are beginning to see the salvation of Italy in the activities of political figures such as Matteo Salvini.

Salvini himself skillfully captures public opinion that would be liked by the majority and creates myths and images around himself, spread at high speed with the help of modern technologies.

Because of his fluctuations and volatility, he is often accused of double standards and inconstancy, but ordinary citizens do not deeply explore the essence of Salvini's populism. They like what he says and what he does.

Salvini shows on social networks and at rallies that he is the same as others and perfectly understands the threat of illegal migration, the spread of liberal democratic values for religious Italy, the injustice during the COVID-19 pandemic and the problems the Ukrainian crisis leads to for Italy. At the same time, Salvini actively uses social networks, through which he points out the most pressing problems for Italians in order to attract attention.

Thus, the use of modern technologies and tools of the postmodern era leads populists to incredible success and power against the background of new challenges and disappointments of Italians in the European model of liberal democracy.