In a new editorial headlining a special issue of Information, Communication & Society, Dan Mercea and Lorenzo Mosca set forth an agenda for studying movement party communication against the backdrop of topical questions about their purchase on democratic quality. The two members of the ProDem team reflect on how the generation of movement parties emerging in the wake of the 2007-8 financial crisis set out on a path to political innovation. These parties have “expressed greater sensitivity to neglected issues, a drive to renew links with marginalized social groups through more direct – chiefly online – communication with them as well as an ambition to overhaul both the party organization and the political system”. As such “movement parties have signalled a desire to disrupt and reimagine politics”. The latter bears renewed “critical examination against questions regarding the quality of democracy [and an apparent] mismatch between a populist rhetoric emphasizing the need for more immediate and greater participation in the party organization as well as policymaking and movement party practices”. The article is part of a series of theoretical papers that are scaffolding the ProDem project.