Economic nationalism
Topic: Schools of Economic Thought and Economic Laws · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Economic nationalism is a set of policies that keep control of a country's industry, capital and markets in domestic hands. Its usual tools are protection through tariffs and other trade barriers, and support for home industry. It follows Friedrich List's infant-industry argument: a young domestic industry should be shielded from foreign competition until it can stand on its own. In India it grew from Dadabhai Naoroji's drain theory (Poverty and Un-British Rule in India, 1901) and the swadeshi movement. It later shaped the planning goal of self-reliance.
Example
Atmanirbhar Bharat (2020) and the "vocal for local" campaign are recent Indian examples. Both push domestic production and try to cut dependence on imports.
Don't confuse with
- Mercantilism: mercantilists counted a nation's wealth as its stock of gold and silver, and they saw trade as zero-sum (one nation gains only if another loses). Economic nationalism is about domestic control and building industry, not piling up bullion.
- Swadeshi: swadeshi is one strand of economic nationalism. It means buying home-made goods, and it was used as a tool of the freedom struggle.