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The discourse of competitiveness and the dis-embedding of the national economy

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  • Lukas Linsi

Abstract

In the 1950s–1970s inward foreign direct investments (IFDI) were widely seen as a menace, threatening to undermine national economic development. Two decades later such concerns had virtually disappeared. Rather than as a problem, IFDI were now portrayed as a solution – even symbols of national economic success. To better understand the ideational dynamics underlying this remarkable transformation in perceptions of IFDI, this research traces the evolution of economic discourses in the United Kingdom over the post-war period. Deviating from conventional accounts in constructivist IPE, the investigation indicates that the rise of first-generation neoliberal discourses in the 1980s played only a secondary role in these processes. Instead, the discursive re-shaping of IFDI was primarily driven by the rise of the narrative of national competitiveness in the early 1990s – a discourse inspired by managerial rather than neoclassical economic theory. Building a framework that prioritizes (multinational) firms over national economies, the rise of this second-generation neoliberal narrative played a critical role in promoting now taken-for-granted imaginaries of the global economy as an economic ‘race’ between nations-as-platforms-of-production. The findings highlight the ideational underbelly of the rise of the competition state and how it re-shaped dominant social representations of IFDI.

Suggested Citation

  • Lukas Linsi, 2020. "The discourse of competitiveness and the dis-embedding of the national economy," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 855-879, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:rripxx:v:27:y:2020:i:4:p:855-879
    DOI: 10.1080/09692290.2019.1687557
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    Cited by:

    1. Claudius Gräbner-Radkowitsch & Theresa Hager & Anna Hornykewycz, 2023. "Competing for Sustainability? An Institutionalist Analysis of the New Development Model of the European Union," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 57(2), pages 676-683, April.
    2. Laura Porak, 2021. "Governing the Ungovernable - Recontextualizations of 'Competition' in European Policy Discourse," ICAE Working Papers 126, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.
    3. Bulfone, Fabio, 2020. "The political economy of industrial policy in the European Union," MPIfG Discussion Paper 20/12, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    4. Gräbner-Radkowitsch, Claudius & Hager, Theresa, 2021. "(Mis)measuring competitiveness: the quantification of a malleable concept in the European Semester," ZOE Discussion Papers 8, ZOE. institute for future-fit economies, Bonn.
    5. Stephan Puehringer & Laura Porak & Johanna Rath, 2021. "Talking about competition? Discursive shifts in the economic imaginary of competition in public debates," ICAE Working Papers 123, Johannes Kepler University, Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy.
    6. Ghomari Souhila, 2020. "Impact of Upgrade Programmes on the Competitiveness: Case of the Algerian Companies," Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 34(1), pages 201-223, February.

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