Populism and Democracy. Patterns of intra-party participation in comparative perspective: the case of Podemos and Five Stars Movement.

Considered as one of the most relevant political phenomena of our days, populism has become a major subject in the literature on party politics and democracy. The present research focuses on an aspect almost unexplored by the literature: the selection of elites by populist parties and the behavior of their elected in relation with the local ground of the party. In particular, the research wants to assess to what extent the populist understanding of society based on a wariness toward political elite and a claim for a pure general will be translated in the building of the proper candidates. In order to perform such an analysis, the research covers the case of Five Stars Movement in Italy and Podemos in Spain, two parties recognized in the literature as "populist" and "pro-direct democracy-seeking". In particular, the thesis will investigate the rationales behind the rules of their Primaries, the internal dynamics of the local ground, the relationship between the elected and the ordinary party members. The aim is to evaluate to what extent these parties resist to the "iron law of the oligarchy", with innovative mechanisms. Methodologically, the qualitative method of semi-structured interviews with an analysis of the main documents of the party will be the main tools. The results of the thesis will give first insight about how populist parties are renewing the party organization and will be the avenues for further research covering the same topic.