Economic Nationalism through Changing Times: The Political Discourse on Foreign Takeovers in Britain Since the 1950s

Recent studies challenge the widespread practice of equating "economic nationalism" with protectionism by showing that market liberalization is also frequently justified with reference to nationalist motives. The present paper shows that, conversely, advocates of protectionism increasingly advance market-liberalizing motives to legitimate their demands. The present article traces the conservative and liberal forms of economic nationalism, as well as the protectionist form of economic liberalism, through British parliamentary debates on foreign takeovers from 1956 onward. The observed discursive change illustrates a gradual change in values and thereby informs recent studies on mechanisms of capitalist development. Unlike both forms of economic nationalism, protectionist liberalism does not portray open markets as a means of promoting or undermining the national interest. Instead, open markets become an end in themselves that no longer requires justification and can even serve to legitimate protectionism.