Abstract

The paper suggests that the political success of Beppe Grillo and Matteo Renzi, after Silvio Berlusconi, is connected with the transformation of representative democracy, the mediatization of society and politics, the crisis of trust in political and institutional systems. In this scenario, the three leaders manage to gain a wide consensus using post-ideological strategies, focused on personal characteristics rather than on political dimensions. In particular, the personality of the leader is used as a central mechanism to build the relationship with the citizens-audience. In a changing world that seems to betray the confidence in progressive development, the trust in a system of experts (traditional parties, political institutions) seems to be turning into trust in actors (an entrepreneur, a show man, a non conventional politician). It is this expectation that can capture and channel people's needs and disorientation by means of empathic identification.