Economic Nationalism as Official State Policy: The Challenges of Savings Banks in Slovenia after World War I

• In Event: The Cost of National Liberations: Post-Imperial Transitions in East Central European Business Realms

Abstract

Economic nationalism was important for the process of nation-building in Central Europe. It became a long-term national culture that represented an alternative path to modernisation and existed in these regions before and after World War I. The article discusses the transition of economic nationalism from a factor below the state to official state policy, including the slovenisation of the financial institutions in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes after 1918. The research provides a deeper insight into the different strategies financial entities pursued under challenging times, which was essential for successful business and the nature of their national signposts. The new state faced devalued hyperinflationary currency, a collapsed trade and payments system, and sizeable foreign debt. It took a long time before the new legislation was established. The article uses a comparative and historical-analytical approach to analyse the adaptations of the three savings banks in Ljubljana, Celje and Maribor to the new circumstances.

Author

• Nataša Henig Miščič, Institute of Contemporary History (Slovenia)