The Five-star Movement inside the institutions in Sicily: from ‘swimming the Strait’ to institutionalisation in local politics

Abstract

This article considers the institutionalisation of the Five-star Movement (M5s) in regional and local councils. It discusses the process of the Movement’s institutionalisation, analysing the development of its internal organisation; its local platforms and political performance; its institutional repertoire of action, and the several internal and external conflicts between its own rules and the ‘others’. In particular, the article investigates the changes affecting the M5s after its engagement with the Sicilian regional assembly and Sicilian municipal councils, and the ways in which the specific institutionalisation process it underwent was influenced by the complexities of the political and socio-economic context. It concludes that in studying the local level, it is possible better to understand the nature of its organisation and the type of institutionalisation it has undergone.