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

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

Based on a conceptual-theoretical contribution on the phenomenon of economic nationalism and case studies on specific countries in CEE, this panel aims at discussing what we have labeled “varieties of economic nationalism”, focusing particularly on the limits and opportunities of small-state agency in the late Cold War era (1970s and 1980s). Going far beyond the reductionist reading of economic nationalism as a set of protectionist and/or neo-mercantilist measures only, the contributions will show how small states (as states under strong political and economic influence of big hegemonic powers) were able to expand their rooms for maneuver with the help of a plethora of economic strategies, from liberal opening-up for foreign capital to defensive-protectionist measures. A crucial aim here is to present how these economic measures were legitimized with the help of nationalist discourses and furthermore historicized in a nationalist sense.

Sub Unit

• History: 1945-1990

Chair

• Agata Zysiak, U of Vienna (Austria)

Papers

• Varieties of Economic Nationalism in Small (Nation-)States - Adrian Brisku, Charles U in Prague (Czech Republic) / Ilia State U (Georgia)

• Becoming ‘Masters of Their Own House’: Economic Nationalism in the Late USSR - Lars Fredrik Stöcker, U of Vienna (Austria)

• Economic Cooperation as 'Patriotic Duty': The Western Polish Diaspora as an ‘Icebreaker’ in People’s Poland’s Growing Economic Relations with the West - Martin Gumiela, U of Vienna (Austria)

Discussant

• Agata Zysiak, U of Vienna (Austria)