German political scientist Schellenberg: the government is lying about right-wing populists 
values and against the influx of migrants. However, soon the policy of discrediting may backfire: people will realize that the authorities are lying to them. This opinion was expressed in an interview with Lenta.ru by Britta Schellenberg, a political scientist from the Ludwig and Maximilian University of Munich.
“People hear that the“ Alternative for Germany ”is the Nazis, and then they see that this party is in favor of expanding local self-government, for example. As a result, they notice that the government is lying to them. This is exactly what the populists warned them about, ”Schellenberg explains.
Benjamin De Klin, Associate Professor at the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Brussels, noted that it is necessary to draw a clear line between populism and nationalism. In his opinion, not all nationalist parties are populist, and not all populist parties are nationalist. “They think in different planes. Nationalists strive to represent the whole nation, for them there is itself and other [nations]. Populists have this section inside – the people against the elite, “- he explained in an interview with” Lenta.ru “.
” It turns out that xenophobia in populist programs turned out as if the people were betrayed by their elites, who preferred migrants, “De Klin said.
In the September elections to the Bundestag, Alternative for Germany came in fifth place with 83 out of 736 mandates. Parliament became the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the conservative bloc CDU/CSU.
Problems of civil society, the growth of protest sentiments in Western countries and their causes have become one of the central topics of the Lenta.ru project called First World Problems. The materials are united by the theme of the crisis of liberal values in the Western world and the split in society. They talk about how the ideas of freedom and universal equality turn into an instrument of oppression, and the struggle for the rights of some groups of people turns into the powerlessness of others.