The end of Gulliver’s travels: MPs and leaderisation in the Italian parliament

The structure of the M5s group in the Italian parliament has become more clearly defined during the eighteenth legislature, with the rise of identifiable leaders and the start of a process of internal segmentation. The study examines the process of vertical differentiation from 2013 to 2018, considering simultaneously the intra-group dynamics; the process of political personalisation in the media, and instrumental leadership, linked to the MPs’ work in Parliament. Focusing on the identification of relational dynamics, the analysis highlights a process of homogenisation in the group and the role of specific political resources in the pronouncements of the leadership.