Il partito politico spagnolo Podemos. Nascita e sviluppo di nuove tecniche comunicative.

The main aim of this thesis is to analyze the so called 'Podemos Phenomenon', Spain's new left-leaning party, whose political activism officially began in 2014 by initiating local public meeting, called ¿citizen circles¿. The thesis develops in three core chapters. The first section focuses on the historical and social backgrounds of Podemos, whose ideology simmered during the May 2011 protests in Madrid, which centered on the skyrocketing unemployment and austerity measures promoted by the Zapatero-led government. The second chapter is dedicated to the evolution of Podemos from being a simple movement to becoming a political party, by way of an analysisof its organizational and functional structure. Finally, the third chapter investigates the important role of its communicative media strategies: the use of the web to organize; to elicit polls and debate issues; to strongly promote anti-austerity measures and poverty reduction actions;, and to support citizens involvement and a fully transparent political administration. Despite a backlash, caused by controversial charges of receiving illicit funding, there is no doubt that Podemos' participative 'method' may change Spanish politics and European political scenarios, through increasing citizens involvement and the inauguration of a new political class opposing established elites and able to resist widespread population dissatisfaction.