In Defense of the Nation: Protectionism and Boycotts in the Habsburg Lands, 1844–1914

This chapter explores economic nationalism in East Central Europe, with a focus on the ways in which trade protectionism dovetailed with nation-building processes in the multinational Habsburg Empire, often taking the form of “defensive” boycott movements against perceived subjugators or oppressors. These boycott campaigns were a sign of political radicalization that, to a large extent, acknowledged the failure of self-help organizations, credit cooperatives, and gradual industrialization to produce separate, self-sufficient national economies in a speedy manner. In this respect, their significance lies more in the political sphere than in the economic sphere.