Journal of Mass Communication & Journalism

BREXIT, Trumpism and the Agency of Populism in Contemporary Political Communication

Abstract

Michael Ugorji

Donald J. Trump’s presidency and Brexit happened to the world in a flash and that flash has refused to wane. The reality of these two major socio-political upheavals has rattled pundits and since posed the question of how the events came to be. This study addresses the tangential role played by populism, which by its amorphousness and lack of any particular ideological depth readily lends itself to the services of various forms of socio-political ends. Therefore, this paper argues that the capacity of populism, as an ambivalent and radical agent of mass movements, to effectively invade the political issues space and sustain or alter the course of sociopolitical action is pivotal to the strategies that energized Brexit and Trumpism, and eventually gave them unlikely victories. Digging into the depths of this agency unearths its strategic communications powers and also establishes its salience to contemporary political ideology and rhetoric.