In recent years, Europe has faced a rising number of geopolitical challenges, among which one of the most significant is its technological lag behind the US and China. This concern is reflected in the EU policy debates and calls for the closing of the technological gap. We frame this trend as part of a peripheralization process that Europe finds itself in the midst of. Specifically, we explore the growing technological dependency as a symptom of an external peripheralization (i.e. Europe’s drift towards economic and geopolitical marginalisation), and connect it with the problem of internal peripheralization that exists on Europe’s North-South and West-East axes. We ask what has led to Europe’s technological lag and to the mutually reinforcing dynamics of external-internal peripheralization.
We turn for answers to the writings of the 19th century German economist Friedrich List. His work, centred around themes of economic development, dependency, and catching-up strategies, offers key lessons for Europe’s new economic and industrial policy that might address the problem of technological dependency while also alleviating the pressures of internal peripheralization. Specifically, we argue based on List that the extractive nature of European economic integration has to change; that the exaggerated focus on short-term market competitiveness should be replaced by a long-term nurturing of production powers;, that Europe needs more active and comprehensive industrial policy; that technological progress should be reframed as a process of never-ending reinvention that requires strong public guidance; and that public interest should take a more prominent role in the development process. We believe that Listian reading of Europe’s technological and economic dependency might offer a new pathway towards addressing these issues, mitigating the process of external-internal peripheralisation, and ultimately strengthening European integration and Europe’s position in the increasingly volatile international environment.
Friedrich List; Europe; economic periphery; technological dependency; industrial policy