ARI Working Paper Series

With increasing international economic interdependence, the scholarly treatment as well as the practice of economic nationalism has become passé.  Contrary to this conclusion, I argue that economic nationalism is not inconsistent with globalization.  States are not only active participants in globalization but they continue to strategically express nationalism in new global settings by supporting national firms and citizens overseas.  By redefining economic nationalism, states pursue a form of global “presence” that transcends economic might.  This paper analyzes economic nationalism as a dynamic concept.  Empirically it takes up three Indian industries (steel, auto, software) since 1950 to understand how nationalism was practiced and how under globalization it has changed.  The paper establishes India’s pursuit of economic nationalism under globalization through its expatriate, highly-skilled professionals abroad engaged with the high technology sectors. Though the coherence of nationalism may be weak now, it may be still expressed in looser, albeit effective forms of national “presence” abroad, as exemplified by the Indian state.