Populism and the Role of Business: Lessons from the Polish Enterprise Council

• In Event: Central Europe

Abstract

One of the most pressing contemporary challenges to European politics relates to the rise of populism, which has also been associated with a heightened risk of democratic backsliding (Müller 2018). Although business is sometimes mentioned in this context, mostly as a part of the elite that populists rail against, the literature on the political role of business in shaping or reacting to the populist turn is still relatively limited. Some recent studies have found significant variation in the role played by business and its effectiveness (Kinderman 2023, Feldmann and Morgan 2023). This paper seeks to contribute to the emerging debate about the political influence of business by examining the important Polish case, where the populist Law and Justice party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS) governed the country from 2015 to 2023.
Business faces several distinctive barriers under populist governments. As the literature on Central and East European politics has documented, populist leaders tend to prefer engaging with loyal businesses (Szelenyi 2016). Other channels of influence, such as traditional social dialogue, have also been weakened. Another important barrier to business involvement relates to the rivalry between business associations, chambers of commerce and other interest groups representing business, which has been acknowledged as one of the key obstacles to effective business collective action (Olson 1965). Given that such organizations often have divergent priorities and also compete for members and for attention in the public sphere, their rivalry tends to impede collaboration and limit the scope for effective collective action.
Our paper analyzes the potential for organizational innovation (Haiven 2006) to overcome barriers to collective action under populist governments by examining the case of the Polish Enterprise Council (Polska Rada Przedsiębiorczości), a novel and distinctive organizational initiative. Originally established in 2003, it faded fairly quickly in large part due to such rivalry. More recently, the Enterprise Council was re-established in 2016 and again in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, and currently its membership consists of nine leading employers’ organizations. It complements the role of its member organizations and other forms of business influence, for example, in the Social Dialogue Council.
The Enterprise Council is widely seen to have enhanced the representation of business interests in Poland. Drawing on interviews and a range of primary and secondary sources, this paper discusses its influence on economic policy, government initiatives related to the rule of law and other controversial issues. It analyses the factors accounting for the achievements and weaknesses of the Enterprise Council and reflects on its future prospects. Building on theoretical debates related to collective action and organizational innovation (Schmitter and Streeck 1985, 1999; Hage 1999; Kim et al. 2022), our paper shows that under certain circumstances, employers' associations can exercise influence in the current era of populist politics. Our analysis shows that organizational innovation and the creation of informal structures can help overcome several barriers to cooperation, but that it may also create challenges for institutionalizing inter-organizational collaboration.
More generally, it also considers the significance of the Polish case for understanding the role of institutional design and contextual factors in overcoming competing interests and inter-organizational rivalry and in strengthening employers’ collective action in the face of populist governments. The paper concludes by reflecting on the future prospects of the Enterprise Council and on the wider implications of the analysis for understanding the role of business in politics in the era of populism both in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond.
In conclusion, our paper speaks to APSA’s 2024 conference theme and to the question: can democratic promises be renewed? The election of Donald Tusk’s government after eight years of right-wing populist rule in Poland is one of the most remarkable political reversals and examples of democratic resilience in the current era. We are not claiming that business collective action by the Polish Enterprise Council is more than one piece of a much larger puzzle and dynamic of opposition against democratic backsliding, but we do believe that institutional innovation and experimentation by many societal actors – including business – can contribute to that larger goal.

Authors

• G. Magnus Feldmann, University of Bristol

• Daniel Phillip Kinderman, University of Delaware