World Politics Post-Five Star Movement
The fourth day of October 2009 marks the historical birth of one of the most innovative political parties in the last decade, Il Movimento 5 Stelle, The Five Star Movement. Commedian Beppe Grillo is the founder and current de facto leader of this big tent party. Perhaps unbeknownst to him, the half-joking party he founded went on to win almost a third of all the votes in the 2018 Italian General Election. As the party grows larger, many discourses have been conducted to study its political motives and agendas (dubbed both populist and environmentalist) as its policies somewhat cancel its previous and future ones.
World politics has been mostly dominated by one quadrant: The Top Right (conservatism, or, in it’s extreme form, radicalism). Most of the times in history, people are selfish—as it is human nature. There weren’t even any contenders against this political position until Karl Marx published his world-famous critique on capitalism and conservatism: Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto. But as soon as Marx’s ideology spread around the world, politics has been more colorful and its people have been more and more divided.
As technology undergo a rapid change in the last few decades, so does everything else. Politics is not an exception. Internet campaigns, big data usage of political decision making, and online petitions, to mention a few. But nothing has been surprising as The Five Star movement, a free-for-all multi-ideology party which is exactly what it takes to make everyone happy.
The world’s politics has never seen such a thing thriving successfully. Yet, its idealism is more or less short-lived. The party has not just influenced political movement around the world, but also sparked discussion on how the world politics could be affected.
Movimento 5 Stelle has never been true to any one ideology or side of the political spectrum. The party endorses sudden changes in policies, being inconsistent in its decision-making. It won’t be long as it won’t be any more surprising if in the future, political parties will be more volatile than ever, influenced by The Five Star Movement.
As every moment in the history of politics, anything in politics is uncertain. Let alone major changes in ideology and political spectrum, the politics itself have never really had any consistency. One small mistake and the whole legacy of a successful party would be crushed down to pieces. The Five Star Movement has never been any more certain in it’s political motives and decision. We shouldn’t be shocked if in the near future there will be parties spawning as inspired by the 5SM.
What The Five Star Movement has done will forever be more and more beautifully chaotic. As the saying goes, “Economy and politics are like the two sides of the same coin. If one falls, soon will follow the other.” Talking politics, we can’t not talk about economy. Talking about economy, we can’t not talk about education, agriculture, and so on. With it’s added value “environmentalist party”, The Five Star Movement has taken politics’ complex relation with economy and double it up. Perhaps in the next five years or so, political parties labeled as “environmentalist”, “LGBTQ+ activist”, or even “anti-feminist” will be showing up across the globe.
Finally, what can better describe the party other than it’s obscurity. From all we know, its motives has never been clear, so is its policies. Although politics has never been unambiguous, The Five Star Movement is the pinnacle of ambiguity. Political parties, the current and future ones, would likely be motivated to be more and more ambiguous.
How should citizens around the world, which the majority are the highest stakeholder in the government, should respond to changes in the future? For certain, people should understand more that consistency is not a staple anymore in politics (which has never been, but people always hope anyways). Being aware of certain parties which supports unspecific ideology or political agenda and motives will also help. But most importantly, people should learn to take sides and stand on a particular ideology.
The Five Star Movement has been a revolutionary force in modern politics. But all things must come to an end. COVID-19 has helped bringing down the already troubled Italian economy and, consequently, the once mighty and full-of-sensation centrist/anti-centrist free-for-all big tent multi-ideology spectrum-spanning political party. In its short life, the party has undoubtedly inspired, if not influenced, people around the world that inconsistency could succeed.
Muhammad Nabiel Indraprasta Irawan
16520348, Family number 252
OSKM ITB 2020
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