The Death of Irish Trade Protectionism: A Political Economy Analysis

The decision to abandon protectionism and move to a more open economy is considered one of the most important developments in modern Irish economic history. Drawing on recent work in the field of international political economy, we propose a new explanation for this important policy change based on interest groups’ demands. More specifically, we argue that Irish agriculture’s needs were highly influential in the policy decisions that were taken in the 1950s. Without the threat of exclusion from the emerging process of European integration and the accompanying loss of traditional markets for agricultural exports, protectionism would have persisted for some time. But we also suggest that the absence of significant objection from industry—supposedly the potentially adversely affected group, as the beneficiary of protection—reflects the changing balance between exporter and protectionist interests in that sector.