This is the worst photo they could come up with? They thought this looked somewhat evil?

Against my better judgement, I’ll quote some of the article; but promise you won’t fall asleep, or make fun of the SciFi name:

Dr. Aurelien Mondon of the University of Bath’s Department of Politics, Languages & International Studies explains, “While Trump, Orban or Le Pen can indeed make use of populist discourse by pitting a constructed version of a ‘people’ against an ‘elite’, this is only a small part of their politics, which draw more from other larger ideologies and ideas such as ultra-conservatism, racism, or even fascism. While populism can help us understand the discursive nature of such politics, it does little on its own to explain their broader meaning and potential consequences.”

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Co-author Katy Brown also of the Department of Politics, Languages & International Studies, says,

“This is by no means a problem unique to The Guardian, and there were many excellent contributions to its ‘the new populism’ series, but the problems we identify illustrate the importance of critical and careful use of terminology.

“The simplification and trivialisation of the term ‘populist’ has blurred meanings between phenomena such as nativism, nationalism, protectionism and racism which has helped to legitimate them by avoiding deeper scrutiny of so-called ‘populist’ policies.” …

Dr. Mondon interrupted, gathering courage:

“Academics have a real role to play in helping people make sense of society and politics, and the work done on populism is key to this. However, it is essential that we reflect upon the impact our work has and how it is interpreted in wider circles. Hopefully, …”

… he said, looking around the room for donors,

“… our article makes one such contribution.”

And he placed particular emphasis on the last word.