THE problem to be discussed here is deemed so important, that it should be used as the starting point of any causal analysis of the present disintegration of world economy worthy of the name. At the same time, however, it is, one must be afraid, one of those numerous problems which to many people appear startlingly new and rather incomprehensible.

WE saw that an intensive economic intercourse, which involves a wide scale of division of labour and a high degree of mutual dependence of individuals, is possible only under a number of conditions, which all fall under the head of “socio-political” integration. It is this latter which, in the last resort, sets the limits to the extent and degree of economic integration.

IN the preceding chapter international economic disintegration has been interpreted as part of the international disintegration of society in general, which, in its turn, must be understood as the ultimate outcome of highly complex and deep-set forces, which will be studied at the end of this enquiry. Now, in this chapter, another approach will be made in order to demarcate the field of study in the widest and most general terms.

No example has been given so far of the kind of scientific approach to non-economic nationalism, which we called instrumental analysis.

BEFORE starting to discuss the all-important question of present-day agricultural nationalism in industrial countries, it will be best to define our position in regard to the whole enquiry. It is the purpose of this enquiry to give a morphological and causal interpretation of the total process of international economic disintegration and to derive from it some indications for a constructive programme of alternative policies.

THE preceding chapter has made it clear how the increase and spread of agricultural nationalism in industrial countries, on an agricultural import basis, has contributed to the disintegration of world economy. Naturally, there arises now the question of how to explain this development of excessive agricultural nationalism during the last fifteen years.

AFTER the general account of the post-war development in the field of agriculture and agricultural policy given in Chapter IX, and the consideration in Chapter X of changes in the international localization of agriculture as one of the principal causes of post-war agricultural nationalism, we now have to determine what were the general driving forces which made post-war agricultural nationalism try to preserve or reshape the national structures of agriculture in conflict with counteracting forces.

THE way in which agricultural nationalism, driven by the forces explained in the preceding chapter, is trying to achieve its ambitious aims presents a special subject worthy of a penetrating analysis.