"The European Union and Economic Nationalism - From Antithesis to Synthesis"

Scientific development cannot be conceived other than as an open debate between diverse theories and approaches. In the context of the study of the European Union there can be no doubt that such debate indeed does take place. Yet, the debate between the political economy of liberalism, socialism and nationalism is, surprisingly, absent from the study of the European Union. The present paper strives to show that this negligence leads to the subtle adaptation of economic liberal assertions regarding the nature of interdependence, of nationalism and of the economic role of the state. The main purpose of this paper is, thus, to balance this dominance of economic liberalism by putting forth an additional view to the study of the Union - that of the political economy of nationalism. The two major suggestions of this paper are (a) that the predictions regarding the meanings, the sources and the outcomes of interdependence, as well as those regarding the diminishing autonomy of the nation-state, reflect, at least to a large extent, the underlying prominence of economic liberal conceptions of political economy and international relations; and (b) that economic nationalism may provide more convincing explanations for the current international economic cooperation in general and for the European cooperation in particular. The first part of the paper puts forth the basic premises of economic nationalism; The second part is devoted to a discussion of the notion of interdependence. A definition of interdependence - which takes into account both the political and the economic aspects of interdependence - is then suggested. This reformulation of the notion of interdependence is introduced in order to explore the economic nationalist point of view as regards the dynamics of global change, the economic roles of the nation-state and the forces that shape the politics of the European Union. The third part of the paper deals with the issue of conflict and harmony in international relations in general and in the context of the European Union in particular. The concluding part asserts that the welfare-nation-state is far from being obsolete, aand that its economic roles are not necessarily aggressive. It then connects these assertions to the necessity of redirecting our interest to the political economy of nationalism