Postmodern Interpretation of the Rise of Populism in Italy in the Context of the Offensive Against Liberal Democracy

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of the rise of populism in Italy against the background of the crisis of liberal democracy. The aim of the work is to determine the influence of postmodern phenomena described by such scientists as J.F. Lyotard, J. Der Derian and J. Baudrillard, on the rise of populist parties and movements in Italy. The object of the study was the phenomena of the postmodern world. The subject of the work is their influence on the rise of populism and disillusionment with liberal democracy in Italy. Special attention is paid to the new challenges of the 2020s for Europe and especially for Italy, where populists have achieved particular success. Against the background of these challenges, the phenomena characteristic of the postmodern era made Europeans doubt the liberal democratic paradigm, which led to the strengthening of right-wing radicals and populists. The novelty of the study is directly highlighting the connection between the rise of populism in Europe and the crack of the liberal democratic paradigm against the background of the migration crisis, the coronavirus pandemic and the deterioration of relations with Russia due to the situation with Ukraine through the prism of the works of postmodern philosophers. In the course of the study, the author came to the conclusion that the postmodern processes of the modern world, such as the collapse of meta-narratives, global surveillance, the creation of myths, images and simulacra, are not correlated with the traditional representation of liberal democracy. Against the background of new challenges and threats, it discredits itself, which gives rise to the spread of populists who skillfully take advantage of the situation that has arisen. According to the results of the content analysis, it was confirmed that the opinion of populists depends on the current agenda. It has been hypothesized that the image of liberal democracy imposed by Europe does not correspond to the image of liberal democracy in the eyes of ordinary Italians, so they see the salvation of their roots and identity in populists.

liberal democracy, postmodernism, populism, Matteo Salvini, migration crisis, COVID-19 pandemic, Ukrainian crisis, global surveillance, simulacrum, content analysis