Legislation and labor justice in Latin American “classic populism”: Elements for the construction of a comparative research agenda

Abstract

The article displays the main hypotheses of an ongoing research on the role of labor law and justice during the first two governments of Perón in Argentina, which holds a comparative perspective with two other experiences of Latin American “classic” populism –those of Brazil and Mexico. The first section presents “the facts” on which this essay is based, that is, the important changes that took place in a few decades in the fields of labor laws and labor justice in the three countries considered. The second analyzes the recent historiography on these Latin American “classic” (or first) populisms (those of Perón, Vargas and Cárdenas), in order to establish common grounds, as well as differences and lacunae in research agendas. Finally, the third part reflects on a set of hypotheses on the role of law and justice in Latin American populisms which, despite the fact that they draw on the experience of the Argentine case, are meant to be discussed and tested for the other three countries as well.