What do populists do once in office? The impact of populist governments on labour and corporate laws

Abstract Contemporary populism is widely understood as a response to rising inequality and insecurity engendered by the neoliberal reshaping of labour and financial markets since the 1980s. Less is known about what populist governments do once in office. To address this question, we undertake a cross-national study which combines recently created datasets on populism and legal change. We find that populist governments, compared to non-populist ones, strengthen workers’ rights and weaken those of shareholders. However, a closer look at the types of labour and corporate laws adopted by populists tells a more nuanced story. Populist governments (both left- and right-wing) avoid taking steps to restore legal rights to trade unions, while the laws they adopt in the corporate sphere have the effect of protecting pro-populist business elites. This finding is consistent with the view of populism as less a rejection of neoliberalism than a mutation or adaptation of it.