Italian Populism and the trajectory of two leaders: Silvio Berlusconi and Umberto Bossi,

This chapter provides a parallel analysis of two populist figures, Berlusconi and Bossi. Both are ‘winners’ in the Italian political competition; both are charismatic leaders, both are deeply connected to their popolo. And both of them are evidently important actors within a right-wing populist framework. But their ‘stories’ are very different. We compare their public images and their political programmes and argue that their definition of il popolo is key to both. They embrace a vision of il popolo which requires and legitimizes an anti-immigration political discourse, xenophobic attitudes and language. Both Berlusconi and Bossi, with some differences, have contributed to disseminating exclusionary forms of public discourse which are now widely accepted, taken for granted by the public and recurrent in everyday language and practices.