ABSTRACT
Protectionism and colonialism hold the field in world politics. And, what is more, historians and economic theorists commonly ascribe the rise and success of Britain’s commercial prosperity to these practices. It is hardly too much to say that this grotesque misreading of British history by the educated German public has been a necessary factor in the making of this world-war. If it be so easily demonstrable that Protectionism and economic Imperialism are based upon complete misconceptions of the nature of commerce and of what a State can do by the use of its power to increase the prosperity of its subjects, it yet remains to be explained why these misconceptions retain their places in statecraft, and why fairly reasonable and intelligent statesmen continue to apply them in policy. The classic modern instance of Imperialism presents in clearest outline the relation between economic and non-economic factors in foreign policy.
