On leaving the UN Economic Commission for Europe in 1957, Gunnar Myrdal gave a series of lectures committed to the topic 'Economic nationalism and internationalism.' Myrdal argued that "In spite of all the hopeful publicity about 'economic integration', here and there in the world--for instance, in Western Europe--the main trend towards economic nationalism and international disintegration is unbroken, even in the most recent years."
In this seminar, we understand ‘economic nationalism’ as one of the registers, negotiated at the center of international life of the 20th century, i.e. international organisations, such as the World Bank, ICC, ILO etc, that brought out the international economic order as we know it. It is undisputed that 'economic nationalism' has been a driving force behind the kind of global integration of economies that has come to be known as 'globalisation'. But how international has it been? More precisely, what kind of international world did it bring out? How was it negotiated within the realms of international economic thinking, by whom and for which purposes? In short, which role did it play in the negotiation of international economic order at the international organisations of the 20th century?