Economic Change and the National Question in Twentieth-Century Europe

The authors in this collection of essays address the largely neglected but significant economic aspects of the national question in its historical context during the course of the twentieth century. There exists a large gap in our understanding of the historical relationship between the 'national question' and economic change. Above all, there is insufficient knowledge about the economic dimension of the historical experience with regard to the former multi-national states, such as the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia; and equally too little is known about the economic component of national tensions and conflicts in bilingual Belgium or Finland, or the multilingual Spain or Switzerland. At the same time as emphasis is placed on the complex relationships between the economy and society in individual European countries, questions of state, identity, language, religion and racism as instruments of economic furtherance are at the centre of the contributors' attention.

Table of Contents:
List of figures; List of tables; Notes on contributors; Acknowledgements; Introduction Alice Teichova, Herbert Matis and Jaroslav Pátek; Part I: 1. Nationalism and the economic question in twentieth-century Ireland Alan O'Day; 2. Economic aspects of the nationality problem in twentieth-century Belgium Eric Buyst; 3. The economy as a pushing or retarding force in the development of the German question during the second half of the twentieth century Jörg Roesler; 4. The Lusatian Sorbs in twentieth-century Germany: industrialisation and the national question Eduard Kûbu; 5. Unequal regional development in Switzerland: a question of nationality? Bruno Fritzsche; Part II: 6. The Portuguese national question in the twentieth century: from Spanish threat to European growth Nuno Valério; 7. From autarky to the European Union: nationalist economic policies in twentieth-century Spain Gabriel Tortella and Stefan Haupt; 8. The economic background to the Basque question in Spain Monserrat Gárate; 9. Economic change and the national question in twentieth-century Italy Luigi Di Rosa; 10. National integration and economic change in Greece during the twentieth century Margarita Dritsas; Part III: 11. National identity and economic conditions in twentieth-century Austria Herbert Matis; 12. Economic and social differentiation in multinational Czechoslovakia Jaroslav Pátek; 13. Nationality and competition: Czechs and Germans in the economy of the first Czechoslovak republic, 1918–38 Christoph Boyer; 14. Economic aspects of Slovak national development in the twentieth century Roman Holec; 15. Economic background to the national question in twentieth-century Hungary Agnes Pogány; 16. Economic background to national conflicts in Yugoslavia Neven Borak; Part IV: 17. Economic differentiation and the national question in Poland in the twentieth century Jerzy Tomaszewski; 18. Economy and ethnicity in the hands of the state: economic change and the national question in twentieth-century Estonia Anu Mai Köll; 19. Changing structure and organisation of foreign trade in Finland after Russian rule Riitta Hjerppe and Juha-Antti Lamberg; 20. Economic change and the national question in twentieth-century Russia: the enterprise level Andrej Yudanov; Index.

Review :
Review of the hardback: 'The editors are to be congratulated for having compiled a collection of essentially eminently readable and informative essays on a representative cross-section of European, and in the case of Russia, Eurasian states.' Karl Cordell, University of Plymouth Review of the hardback: '… opens the way to new and more concentrated research … a solidly researched book, both well-organised and compact …'. Journal of European Economic History Review of the hardback: 'With this book Alice Teichova has again excelled not only in pointing to a question of contemporary importance and linking it to its historical roots, but in assembling a group of well-known and distinguished scholars to publish on it.' Scandinavian Economic History Review