Business and Populism: The Odd Couple?

Description

Business and Populism analyses the relationship between right wing populism and business with a focus on business responses and strategies in the face of the global populist turn. In the neoliberal era business had become accustomed to favourable economic policy regimes and governance arrangements that facilitated business influence on key policy issues. The rise of populist movements in various parts of the world is widely perceived as a significant challenge to policymaking, mainstream political parties and even to liberal democracy. Yet we know very little about the impact of populism on business, beyond the fact that the anti-elite challenge of populism frequently targets business with policies to restrict globalization, outsourcing, and labour migration whilst at the same time embracing capitalism, low taxes, and deregulated markets. Populists also glory in presenting themselves as authentic representatives of the people, symbolizing this in their demotic language, their rejection of standards of 'polite' society and liberal 'woke' values, including attacking core intermediary institutions such as independent central banks, the judiciary, the civil service, universities and expert knowledge, and a free press central to post-1945 versions of liberal democracy. When faced with these disruptions and the risks they pose for business, how does business respond? Does it choose to support or challenge populists in different countries? This volume advances the debate by providing empirical studies of the impact of right-wing populism on business. Finally, it considers whether populism will continue to be influential and how its success might impact on business strategy and structure. cover titlepage copyright Preface Contents List of Tables List of Figures List of Contributors PART 1 Introduction 1 Business and Populism: The Political Economy of the `Odd Couple' PART 2 Country Studies 2 The Trump Phenomenon and Right-wing Extremism: Is Donald Trump a Populist? 3 Threats and Opportunities: The Populist Challenge to Business Elites in Trump's Administration 4 Brexit, Populism and Business: The Business Elite Loses Control? 5 Business Reponses to Populism in Denmark: Between Loud Voice and Implicit Loyalty 6 Italy: Populism and Business in a Stagnant Economy 7 Rent-seeking Business Elites and Populism in Poland and Hungary 8 Business Factions, Populists, and the Social Bloc Perspective: The Case of FDI-led Growth Regimes 9 India: Populism, Personalism, and Economic Governance 10 Technocracy and Populism in the Philippines 11 Populist `Order and Progress': Authoritarianism and Loyal Business Elites in Brazil Part 3 Thematic Analyses 12 Right-wing Populism vs. Climate Capitalism: Climate Change Governance Under Scrutiny 13 Business Associations and Right-wing Populism 14 Populists in Power—the Impact on Interest Representation and Firm-level Nonmarket Strategies 15 Populism and Trade 16 The Populism of Transnational Plutocrats Part 4 Conclusion 17 Populism, Risk and Business: Present and Future Prospects Index