The article explores a key aspect in the development of contemporary European populist parties: the celebrity dynamics of their leadership. It presents a systematic comparison of leaders from the main populist parties, exploring the correlation between leadership visibility, fame, and the ideological and organisational characteristics of parties. Furthermore, it investigates the subset of leaders whose public notoriety predates their political involvement, with a view to establishing how they balance the demands of political responsibility and authenticity of character, both in terms of organisational control and communicative strategy. Analytically, the study helps illuminate the mechanisms through which populist parties adapt to participation in the political game while continuing to mark their ideological difference. Empirically, the findings highlight the uniqueness of an outlier case, Beppe Grillo’s leadership of Italy’s Five-Star Movement, in which celebrity is leveraged into a kingmaker role, while still retaining the public persona of an outside observer.
AlberoniF (1973) L’ élite senza potere: ricerca sociologica sul divismo. Milan: Bompiani.
2.
AlbertazziDMcDonnellD (2008) Conclusion: Populism and twenty-first century Western European democracy. In: AlbertazziDMcDonnellD (eds) Twenty-first Century Populism. New York: Springer, pp.217–223.
BrighentiA (2007) Visibility: A category for the social sciences. Current Sociology55(3): 323–342.
5.
BrunclíkMKubátM (2016) The Czech parliamentary regime after 1989. Acta Politologica8(2): 5–29.
6.
CirhanTKopeckýP (2017) Career backgrounds, professional network and party cohesion: The success of ANO in the Czech Republic. Politologický Časopis – Czech Journal of Political Science24(2): 116–136.
7.
CosenzaG (2014) Grillo’s communication style: From swear words to body language. Contemporary Italian Politics6(1): 89–101.
8.
Costa LoboMCurticeJ (eds) (2015) Personality Politics? The Role of Leader Evaluations in Democratic Elections. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
9.
DolezalMZeglovitsE (2014) Almost an earthquake: The Austrian parliamentary election of 2013. West European Politics37(3): 644–652.
10.
DriessensO (2013) Celebrity capital: Redefining celebrity using field theory. Theory and Society42: 543–560.
11.
GreenJ (2010) The Eyes of the People. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
12.
HallinDCManciniP (2004) Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics. Communication, Society, and Politics. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.
13.
HavlíkVVodaP (2016) The rise of new political parties and re-alignment of party politics in the Czech Republic. Acta Politologica8(2): 119–144.
14.
HawkinsKKaltwasserCR (2017) What the (ideational) study of populism can teach us, and what it can’t. Swiss Political Science Review23(4): 526–542.
15.
HeinichN (2012) De la visibilité: excellence et singularité en régime médiatique. Paris: Éditions Gallimard.
16.
HeinischRSaxonbergS (2017) Entrepreneurial populism and the radical centre: Examples from Austria and the Czech republic. In: HeinischRHoltz-BachaCMazzoleniO (eds) Political Populism: A Handbook. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag, pp.209–226.
17.
HerreroLCHumprechtEEngesserS, et al. (2017) Rethinking Hallin and Mancini beyond the west: An analysis of media systems in central and eastern Europe. International Journal of Communication11: 27.
18.
HloušekVKopečekL (2017) Different ways of institutionalising entrepreneurial parties: Czech public affairs party and ANO. Politologický Časopis – Czech Journal of Political Science24(2): 92–115.
19.
JennyM (2013) Austrian electoral study. European Journal of Political Research Political Data Yearbook52(1): 25–31.
20.
JennyM (2014) Austrian electoral study. European Journal of Political Research Political Data Yearbook53(1): 27–38.
21.
JennyM (2015) Austrian electoral study. European Journal of Political Research Political Data Yearbook54(1): 25–32.
22.
KaltwasserCRTaggartPEspejoPO, et al. (2017) Populism: An overview of the concept and the state of the art. In: KaltwasserCRTaggartPEspejoPO, et al. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Populism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
23.
KeaneJ (2009) The Life and Death of Democracy. London: Simon & Schuster.
24.
LawrenceRGBoydstunAE (2017) Celebrities as political actors and entertainment as political media. In: AelstPVWalgraveS (eds) How Political Actors Use the Media. New York, Palgrave, pp. 39–61.
25.
MarshD’t HartPTindallK (2010) Celebrity politics: The politics of the late modernity?Political Studies Review8(3): 322–340.
26.
MazzoleniGSchulzW (1999) ‘Mediatization’ of politics: A challenge for democracy?Political Communication16(3): 247–261.
27.
MichaelLBNadeauRCosta LoboM, et al. (2015) Between Leadership and Charisma, the Importance of Leaders. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
28.
MoffittB (2016) The Global Rise of Populism: Performance, Political Style, and Representation. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
29.
MorlinoLTarchiM (1996) The dissatisfied society: The roots of political change in Italy. European Journal of Political Research30(1): 41–63.
30.
MuddeC (2004) The populist zeitgeist. Government and Opposition39(4): 541–563.
31.
MuddeCKaltwasserCR (2018) Studying populism in comparative perspective: Reflections on the contemporary and future research agenda. Comparative Political Studies51: 1667–1693.
32.
PetrovováIEiblO (2018) Celebrities in Czech Politics in 1996–2013. European Journal of Communication34: 3–19.
33.
PoguntkeTWebbP (2005) The Presidentialization of Politics: A Comparative Study of Modern Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
34.
RhodesRAWHartP (eds) (2014) The Oxford Handbook of Political Leadership. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
35.
RooduijnM (2018) State of the field: How to study populism and adjacent topics? A plea for both more and less focus. European Journal of Political Research58: 362–372.
36.
RosanvallonP (2008) La légitimité Démocratique: Impartialité, Réflexivité, Proximité. Seuil, Paris.
37.
RupnikJ (2016) Surging illiberalism in the East. Journal of Democracy27(4): 77–87.
38.
SchlöglSMairederA (2014) Struktur Politischer Öffentlichkeiten Auf Twitter Am Beispiel Österreichischer Innenpolitik. Austrian Journal of Political Science44(1): 16–31.
39.
ShieldsJ (2004) An enigma still: Poujadism fifty years on. French Politics, Culture & Society22(1): 36–56.
40.
StanleyB (2017) Populism in central and eastern Europe. In: KaltwasserCRTaggartPEspejoPO, et al. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Populism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 140–160.
41.
StreetJ (2004) Celebrity politicians: Popular culture and political representation. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations6(4): 435–452.
42.
StreetJ (2012) Do celebrity politics and celebrity politicians matter?The British Journal of Politics and International Relations14(3): 346–356.
43.
StreetJ (2016) Popularization of politics. In: MazzoleniG (ed.) The International Encyclopedia of Political Communication. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, pp.1–5.
44.
’t HartPTindallK (2009) Leadership by the famous: Celebrity as political capital. In: KaneJPatapanH’t HartP (eds) Dispersed Leadership in Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
45.
TronconiF (2018) The Italian Five Star Movement during the crisis: Towards normalisation?South European Society and Politics23(1): 163–180.
46.
Van KesselS (2015) Populist Parties in Europe: Agents of Discontent?Basingstoke; New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
47.
WaisboardS (2018) The elective affinity between post-truth communication and populist politics. Communication Research and Practice4: 17–34.
48.
WebbPPoguntkeT (2013) The presidentialisation of politics thesis defended. Parliamentary Affairs66(3): 646–654.
49.
WheelerM (2012) The democratic worth of celebrity politics in an era of late modernity. British Journal of Politics and International Relations14(2): 407–422.
50.
WoodMCorbettJFlindersM (2016) Just like Us: Everyday celebrity politicians and the pursuit of popularity in an age of anti-politics. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations18(3): 581–598.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
