Populism, Power and Foreign Policy A Critical Discourse Analysis of The Five Star Movement’s China Policy

This book examines the relationship between populism and foreign policy through two China-related episodes involving Italy’s Five Star Movement (M5S): the NoMesChina oppositional campaign and the 2019 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). It argues that the M5S's China policy was not just about China. Rather, China served as a flexible discursive resource. Through this lens, the movement constructed representations of 'the people' and 'the elite'. This also legitimised shifting political positions and signalled Italy's place between Brussels, Washington and Beijing. The concept of the 'illusion of pivot' is developed to capture how highly visible foreign-policy initiatives, such as the 2019 BRI MoU, are interpreted by different audiences as signals of a change in a state’s external orientation, even when their practical policy implications remain limited. The book will appeal to scholars and students of critical discourse analysis, Italian studies and international relations.