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When the South Emulates the North: Energy Policies and Nationalism in the Twentieth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2008

NUNO LUÍS MADUREIRA
NUNO LUÍS MADUREIRA*
Affiliation:
ISCTE cacifo 321 B, Av Forças Armadas, 1600 Lisbon, Portugal; nuno.madureira@iscte.pt.
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Abstract

Differences in natural endowments, in geographical conditions and in per capita income set up an historical bifurcation between northern states, with abundant renewable hydrological resources, and less well-endowed southern states. While the first embraced a model of electricity adding, with the embodiment of this form of energy in capital goods and intermediate goods, the second followed a path of electricity substitution, with mixed strategies of replacing inputs in established sectors of industry, public utilities, transport and private consumption. This article examines the different plans for and achievements of economic nationalism in the twentieth century and its consequences, discussing the possibility of reproducing in Portugal the pattern of the stimulus to industrial manufacturing of cheap electricity.

Quand le sud imite le nord: politiques de l'énergie et nationalisme au 20ème siècle

Les différences dans l'héritage naturel, les conditions géographiques et le revenu par habitant ont engendré une bifurcation historique entre les pays nordiques pourvus de ressources hydrologiques abondantes et les pays du sud moins bien dotés: pendant que les premiers ont adopté un modèle d'augmentation de l'électricité, avec l'incarnation de cette énergie dans des biens en capital et des biens intermédiaires, les seconds ont suivi un chemin de la substitution de l'électricité, avec des stratégies mixtes pour remplacer l'apport énergétique dans des secteurs établis de l'industrie, des services publics, des transports et de la consommation personnelle. Cet article examine les différents plans pour le nationalisme économique et ses réalisations et conséquences dans le vingtième siècle, en discutant la possibilité de reproduire au Portugal le schéma d'un stimulus de l'électricité bon marché pour la manufacture industrielle.

Wenn der süden den norden nachahmt: energiepolitiken und nationalismus im 20. jahrhundert

Die Unterschiede in der Ausstattung mit natürlichen Resourcen, den geographischen Bedingungen und des Pro-Kopf-Einkommens führten zur historischen Entwicklung eines zentralen Unterschieds zwischen den nordischen Ländern mit ergiebigen hydrologischen Ressourcen einerseits und den weniger gut ausgestatteten südlichen Ländern andererseits. Während erstere ein Modell des Elektrizitätsüberschusses ausprägten und die Energie in Kapital- und Zwischengütern umwandelten, verfolgten letztere einen Weg der Elektrizitätssubstitution, welche durch gemischte Strategien von Ersatzenergiezufuhr in etablierten Sektoren der Industrie, der öffentlichen Versorgungsbetriebe, des Transports und des Eigenkonsums charakterisiert war. Dieser Artikel untersucht die verschiedenen Pläne zum wirtschaftlichen Nationalismus und seine Errungenschaften und Konsequenzen im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert, während er die Möglichkeit der Reproduktion des Schemas zum Ansporn für Billigelektrizität für die industrielle Manufaktur in Portugal diskutiert.

Type
Article
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , February 2008 , pp. 1 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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