Globalization, Openness and Economic Nationalism: Analytical and Conceptual Issues A Foreword to Globalization and Economic Nationalism in Asia

This book to which the present paper provides a foreword, investigates the interactions between globalization and economic nationalism in Asian countries. In this foreword, for South Asian countries the question of economic nationalism is considered through the lens of economic openness. Full globalisation, which connotes close or total integration of countries’ economies with that of the world economy, is the antonym of economic nationalism. The paper argues that economic openness is a multi-dimensional concept. A country can be open or not so open, in all or some of the following directions: trade, exports, imports, finance, science, culture, education, migration, foreign investment, investment by its citizens and companies abroad, among other things. There is no economic theory that suggests that a country has to be open in all dimensions simultaneously. Given its economic and geographical situation, a country may choose to be open in some areas and not at all, or only partially in others. The foreword examines the analytical question: what is the optimum degree of openness for an economy?