MIT Associate Professor Jason Jackson's new book 'Constructing Economic Nationalisms in Brazil and India' examines how two post-colonial nations took radically different paths to economic independence from the late 1800s through the early post-WWII era. Brazil focused on protecting natural resources, restricting foreign ownership of oil while welcoming foreign firms in automobile manufacturing. India, shaped by British 'free trade' policies that decimated its textile industry, did the opposite — restricting foreign control in auto manufacturing while allowing foreign oil companies to dominate. Jackson argues that understanding these historical forms of economic nationalism is essential for making sense of today's geopolitical tensions between the EU, Russia, China, and the US.
