Varieties of Economic Nationalism in Small (Nation-)States

• In Event: Varieties of Economic Nationalism in Cold War Europe: Small State Responses to Economic Changes, 1960s-1980s

Abstract

This paper details – from a conceptual history perspective – how and why the political-economic phenomenon of economic nationalism, historically and contemporaneously, remains a controversial and contested concept, in discourse and practice. Moving beyond the confines of conceptual history approach, by arguing for a reconceptualization of economic nationalism – based on historical patterns of framing the phenomenon – it advances two arguments. It argues that to overcome its controversies, economic nationalism ought to be reconceptualized in terms of its discernible, various forms: ‘liberal’ (nations in competition) and ‘progressive’ (nations in cooperation), ‘conservative/defensive’ (nations in a zero-sum game) and ‘extreme’ (aggressive/expansionist and/or autarchic nations) and such a variety in discourse and practice is present also in small(er) (nation-)states in modern and contemporary European and global history.

Author

• Adrian Brisku, Charles U in Prague (Czech Republic) / Ilia State U (Georgia)