ABSTRACT
The term Cameralism describes a set of doctrines more specific then those of mercantilism and, at the same time, a more interesting intellectual category. Britain, Continental Europe, the US, Latin American and Asian countries: all have developed, or attempted to develop, through state intervention in the form of investment and/or protectionism. The point of departure for this survey is Johann Gottlieb Fichte. On the surface his ties to Cameralism might appear to be weak. He was heir to Kant and Rousseau both of whom wrote in the tradition of the social contract and enthusiastic about the prospects opened up by the French Revolution. The criticism levelled against Atlantic values subsumed by the triad of individualism, utilitarianism and hedonism and their corrupting potential for Europe became increasingly bitter in the post-Versailles period. The post-war demise of colonial empires did not immediately give way to the reproduction of the old dependency ties in neo-colonial guise.
