Il populismo nella crisi della Repubblica. Il caso del Movimento Sociale Italiano tra il 1987 e il 1992

This essay examines the emergence of a populist vocabulary within the Movimento Sociale Italiano during the crisis of the First Republic, between 1987 and 1992. Focusing on the conflict between the Almirantian, Rautian and modernizing currents, it shows how anti-party rhetoric, fiscal protest, distrust of representative institutions and appeals to civil society entered a political culture still marked by neofascist identity, nationalism and anti-communism. Rather than describing the MSI as fully populist, the essay highlights a utilitarian contamination that helped the post-fascist right adapt to the collapse of the party system and prepare its transition toward the Second Republic.