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.
Magnus Feldmann, Senior Lecturer in Politics in the School of Sociology, University of Bristol, Glenn Morgan, Honorary Professor in the School of Management, University of Bristol
Magnus Feldmann is currently a Senior Lecturer in Politics in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol. He has previously been a Research and Teaching Fellow at Harvard University and held visiting fellowships at Uppsala University and the Estonian Business School. He is a member of the editorial board of the journal
Post-Communist Economies. His research focuses on political economy, business and politics, public policy and post-communist politics. His articles have appeared in a range of journals, including
World Politics,
Politics and Society,
Comparative Political Studies and
New Political Economy as well as various edited volumes.
Glenn Morgan is currently an Honorary Professor in the School of Management, University of Bristol. He has previously been Professor of Management at the School of Management, University of Bristol, Professor of International Management at Cardiff Business School and Professor of Organization Studies at Warwick Business School. He has been a visiting Professor at a number of institutions, including Copenhagen Business School where he was `Velux Visiting Professor 2014. He was President of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics in 2014-15 and Editor of the journal
Organization from 2003-2008.
