Abstract

The 5 Star Movement includes and conveys some important trends in contemporary politics and society: the relativization of the left/right antinomy; interclassism; the elimination of conflict; the centrality of leadership, communication and marketing; the political and media populism; the counter-democracy of social movements; the co-presence of participatory methods and verticalization of the decision making processes. Within this heterogeneity, two elements seem dominant. First, the 5SM foreshadows the end of politics as autonomous specialized subsystem. The culture it expresses and its styles of political action and organization evoke the neutralization of politics by technology, science, market and community. Second, the most important link between 5SM and contemporary social processes lies in its relation to the dynamics of informa¬tional capitalism. The way M5S organizes and communicates closely recalls the organizational and rhetorical styles of firms in high-tech sectors. M5S considers the political form it prefigures as the most functional to the capacity of these firms to shape social relationships. The Movement also includes ambivalences and tensions that characterize production, work and consumption in these economic sectors: autonomy/heteronomy; verticality/horizontality, cooperation/competition, community/market, participation/anti-conflictualism. Beyond the specific destinies of this single party, it will be interesting to watch the evo¬lution of the political form and the relationship between society and politics that it foreshadows..