Why nativism, not populism, should be declared word of the year | Cas Mudde

The Cambridge Dictionary has got its definition and its application wrong. It conflates the term with the nativism of the radical rightLast week the Cambridge Dictionary declared populism its 2017 word of the year. In many ways, that makes perfect sense. Since Brexit and Trump, virtually every political event has been couched in terms of populism, from the Dutch parliamentary elections to the French presidential electionsearlier this year. New media catchwords such as “fake news” are linked to populism.However, it has become the buzzword of the year mostly because it is very often poorly defined and wrongly used. Indeed, the Cambridge Dictionary ’s definition perfectly illustrates this. It describes populism as “political ideas and activities that are intended to get the support of ordinary people by giving them what they want ”.Continue reading...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Linguistics University of Cambridge Science The far right Elections past Politics Source Type: news