Implications of Authoritarian Policies on Workers and Labor Precariousness

Authoritarianism has resurfaced as a repressive form of government that rejects political plurality. While Europe and the Middle East have been an epicenter of highly authoritarian radical right-wingers, the Americas, including North, South America, and the Caribbean, have not escaped this tendency. Subtle and obvious ways of exercising authoritarianism have been used, especially in recent decades including the pandemic context. Repressive governments have implemented authoritarian policies like emergency fiscal laws and labor reforms to impose budget cuts and reduce labor rights. The purpose of this regular session is to examine the effects of these and other authoritarian policies internationally. We are interested in examining the implications of these policies on workers, labor precariousness, layoffs, labor rights, among others. We invite researchers from all regions, especially the Global South, to present papers on this issue. The papers could be theoretically or empirically based.