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Gemma Walker | Simple Populists? The Integrative Complexity of Populist Political Communication

Date
Date
Thursday 5 December 2024, 15:00-16:00

In recent years, populist politicians have been gaining ground globally but their success has been accompanied by growing concerns about the way in which the quality of political communication has been degrading. But is populist political communication really as simplistic as is often feared? In this seminar, Gemma Walker, a PGR at the University of Leeds, will discuss the role that integrative complexity plays in shedding light on this question by providing the theoretical basis for her PhD research project entitled “Simple Populists? The Integrative Complexity of Populist Political Communication”. She will explain why integrative complexity remains an important construct that should be used to examine the deliberative quality of political communication in the 21st century and theorise why populists may be less integrative complex.