In all western countries，“populism” occupies the space of the traditional political offer which no longer finds appeal for large sections of the population. The structural elements of the advanced economies，after having produced the welfare state in the second half of the twentieth century，have shifted and changed，leaving the western democracies orphans of both ideality and a clear “mission” for the future. In Italy，the “populism” have occupied the rooms of power，but the “Movimento 5 Stelle-Lega” （Five Star Moviment-League）government has failed. In the Peninsula two “populisms” act. The first，Matteo Salvini’s “League”，looks to the past and is tinged with nostalgic sovereignty，seasoned with authoritarian and undemocratic nuances. The second，that of the Five Star Movement，draws on instances of direct democracy，in response to the obvious crisis of representative democracy，but does not show itself capable of winning the government’s bet. The real knot is that the social pact，supported by the consensus of the middle class，is failing. The incapacity and the impossibility to produce an idea of the future，is generating a widespread sense of insecurity that manifests itself first and foremost in the aversion to the different，and in the construction of walls，real and psychological ones，to block migration flows and in the creation of new “external enemies”. We can say that we are close to the exhaustion of what can be seen as the paradigm of the French Revolution that has accompanied the capitalist development of the last two centuries，with the corollary of the construction of democratic systems in the West.