Bogliaccini, J.A. (2024) Empowering Labour: Leftist Approaches to Wage Policy in Unequal Democracies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781-0094335-25 240 pp. US$105.00 (hardcover).

Empowering Labour presents a meticulous analysis of the political dynamics that shape how and when centre-left governments employ wage policy as a pre-distributive strategy to promote equality and inclusion.The book's central argument, articulated in Chapter 2, is that the form and scope of wage policies are determined by two primary factors: the degree of unity between Left parties and labour's political legitimacy.These factors, in turn, are shaped by the long-term strategies of elites toward labour.Such strategies create path dependencies, influencing "differential opportunities for further options down the road" (p.2).The empirical evidence supporting this argument is drawn from a comparative study of Chile, Portugal and Uruguay.Through diverse sources -including archival materials, documents from labour unions, business associations and state institutions, as well as interviews with key informants such as labour leaders, employers, state officials and experts -Bogliaccini demonstrates how these countries exemplify three qualitatively distinct approaches to combining predistributive instruments with redistribution.The first part of this historical and causal account, presented in Chapter 3, explores how elites in these countries developed divergent strategies toward labour inclusion in the early 20th century.Chilean elites adopted a strategy of "elite-based contention", while Portuguese and Uruguayan elites pursued "controlled coordination" and "consociationalism", respectively.These strategies fostered distinct political practices -such as labour recognition, representation and participation in representative associations -that defined the degree of "empowered inclusion" of labour.Although none of these strategies survived the neoliberal and post-authoritarian transitions intact, Bogliaccini persuasively argues that they remain resilient, continuing to shape the power constellations between labour and capital.For instance, this historical legacy explains why labour legislation in Chile is notably more labour-repressive than in Portugal or Uruguay.The second part of the analysis, detailed in Chapter 4, examines the critical role of Left unity in determining the use of wage policy as a predistributive instrument.Bogliaccini argues that unified Left parties are more likely to moderate labour activism -such as wage militancy -thereby increasing the likelihood of employing wage policy (for example, Uruguay).Conversely, when the Left is fragmented, governments face greater challenges in managing activism and are less inclined to use wage policy, relying instead on minimum wage adjustments and redistributive policies to address inequality (for example, Chile).Bogliaccini's findings underscore the causal primacy of Left unity over two other sources of

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