The study of populist political communication has never been more important, not only against the background of the current social, political, and economic tumult, but also in light of recent populist backlashes against governments and the changing media environment.

Populist Actors as Communicators

Radical populist discourses undermine the quality of the public debate by proposing poor reasoning and black-and white arguments to the disillusioned electorate. Using their charisma, their rhetorical skills and new social media, they have oversimplified complex societal issues, divided social groups and propose complete demagogical solutions.

Defenders of democracy have a great role to play here to keep on educating and warning citizens on damages caused by radical populist movements, especially the simplification of complex issues into 'us' vs. 'them'.

Populist parties are gaining momentum in countries across Europe. As voter turnout decreases, the influence of large mainstream parties is diminishing and the party structure is fragmenting. The profiles of the various populist movements in Europe are fundamentally different. They differ not only in their messages and their political affiliations to the left or the right and whether they take a moderate or hard line; their direct influence after election results and their potential for influence in the future through agenda setting are also significantly different.

Listening to the pundits, one could get the impression that social media has rendered the professional public policy advocacy industry ineffective. Yes, social media has given everyone everywhere the same ability to engage, monitor and influence government’s most important policy makers. But is it really the same influence that a Public Policy Advocate provides? Not really.

The results in Spain’s December elections were, more or less, in line with what was expected: the Parliament is more diverse than ever. The mainstream political parties, Christian Democrats (Partido Popular – PP) and Social Democrats (Partido Socialista Obrera Español – PSOE) no longer dominate the political scene. The two-party (also called two-and-a-half party) system of Spain has been challenged by Podemos (‘We can’) and Ciudadanos (Citizens).

The Canadian Registry of Lobbyists is accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week on the website of the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying.

The Registry discloses details about who is being paid to communicate with federal public office holders and on what subject matters. It is the central source of information about individuals, not-for-profit organizations and for-profit corporations who lobby the federal government by communicating with elected officials or public servants.

The information contained in the Registry includes:

The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada is an officer of the Parliament of Canada established in July 2008 by the Lobbying Act. The Commissioner is appointed by both Houses of Parliament for a term of seven years.

Mandate

The Commissioner of Lobbying's mandate is to ensure transparency of the lobbying of federal public officer holders. This contributes to increasing the confidence Canadians have in the integrity of decision making.

The Commissioner's mandate is threefold:

Any action or policy, even one that's embedded in a law or government regulation, can be changed, diluted, or eliminated in the future because of inattention or a determined opponent's action. Although the need to address your issue may have been accepted as one  the tide of public opinion could turn tomorrow, and you could find that your support has drifted away.

When to it comes to public policy advocacy, associations often have a difficult time to keep members actively involved in important day-to-day issues. They struggle to activate busy professionals who can be difficult to motivate without a timely issue or crisis at hand. In order to be successful in their advocacy efforts, associations need to reach a critical mass of members.  

Increasing membership engagement

Trump’s message resonates with voters who have felt ignored and are tired of politics as usual. His fans know America isn’t as respected as it was and should be. They fear their kids and grandkids won’t live as well as they have. They know that failure to cut deficits and the National Debt, and control the border means economic and social chaos. Voters are openly hostile. They see in Trump a successful, straight-talking, pro-U.S. executive who gets things done -- things they want done. Millions of Americans believe that both major parties work against them and their interests.