Abstract
The Lega Nord (LN) has undergone a profound process of transformation since 2013, by replacing its historical regionalist populism with a new state-wide populist radical right outlook. However, very little is known about how such transformation impacted its organizational model, particularly the mass-party features that characterized it under its founding leader, Umberto Bossi. This article explores the organizational evolution of the party under Matteo Salvini by means of a qualitative in-depth analysis of 41 semi-structured interviews with representatives of the LN from four regions (Calabria, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, and Veneto) and primary documents. It underlines that the LN was turned into a disempowered and politically inactive “bad company,” charged with the task of paying the debts of the old party, while its structure, resources, and personnel were poured into a new state-wide organization called Lega per Salvini Premier (LSP). The LSP has not simply maintained the key features of the mass-party in the LN’s historical strongholds, but also pioneered a modern form of this organizational model grounded on the continuous interaction between digital and physical activism, i.e., “phygital activism,” which boosts the party’s ability to reach out to the electorate by delivering the image that the League is constantly on the ground. The LSP has sought to export this modern interpretation of the mass-party in the South; however, in that area its organizational development remains at an embryonic stage, and the party’s nationalization strategy has so far produced a “quasi-colonial” structure dominated by, and dependent on, the Northern elite.
Highlights
For much of its existence, the Lega Nord (LN) was led by a Lombard elite dominated by its founding leader, Umberto Bossi, who concentrated his efforts on build‐ ing a mass‐party inspired by the organizational principles and practices of Leninist parties
Methodologically speaking, this article focuses on the detailed analysis of party statutes (LN, 2015, 2021; Lega per Salvini Premier (LSP), 2018) and regulations (LSP, 2021) and, in particular, on the qualitative in‐depth analysis of 41 semi‐structured interviews with representatives and former representatives of the LN and/or LSP in Calabria, Emilia‐Romagna, Lombardy, and Veneto, con‐ ducted between November 2019 and June 2021
In the South, the LSP is better understood as a “wannabe” mass‐party at an embryonic stage of development, as it is trying to replicate the organizational features and practices it has consolidated in the North, but not without difficulties
Summary
For much of its existence, the Lega Nord (LN) was led by a Lombard elite dominated by its founding leader, Umberto Bossi, who concentrated his efforts on build‐ ing a mass‐party inspired by the organizational principles and practices of Leninist parties. Lega per Salvini Premier (LSP) impacted on its long‐ standing organizational model. It explains how LSP has sought to foster and modern‐ ize the mass‐party organizational model inherited from the old LN in the historical strongholds in the North, while seeking to export its key features to the whole country. Phygital activism is well‐oiled and fostered in Northern regions, where it enables the LSP to perform the traditional functions of the mass‐party model in a faster, more efficient, and immediate way. This modern conception of the mass‐party model is consolidated in the North and has been exported to the South. The strategy of organizational national‐ ization of the LSP is still in its infancy, and territorial pene‐ tration in the South is being pursued in a “quasi‐colonial” way by Salvini and his most loyal collaborators, raising doubts about its future sustainability
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