Labor, Left-Wing Populism, and Radical Reform: A Comparative History of The People Party (US) and Pakistan People’s Party

Abstract

This paper studies the rise and decline of leftwing populism in Pakistan and the United States. It compares Pakistan People’s Party and the People Party (United States) for this analysis. It highlights the common trends in the historical experience of the two parties in their respective eras and countries. It avers that leftist populist parties that shift to the center of the political spectrum, end up alienating the working class components of their support base. Alienation of the party base comes at a big political cost to such parties. Both, the People’s Party (US) and the Pakistan People’s Party witnessed declining fortunes because of the alienation of working class supporters.