Trade and Power: Historical Analysis of Trade Policy

This book examines international trade and the trade policies of nation states using an interdisciplinary approach – it uses the findings of economic history and recognizes the role played by state interests and by political power. The primary goal of this text is to present an alternative explanation of the relationship between these phenomena, since other analyses of the international trade system omit many issues without which it is not possible to understand current trade systems and trade policies. Among the questions which cannot be left out are: the specific historical and political processes which formed the current trade system; the strategic and po¬litical interests of states related to trade and economic policies; and the connection between economic (or trade) structures and political power.