The modernizing world of 1850-1870 belonged to an age of remarkable growth in international trade, stimulating the largest free market the world had ever seen. Yet by 1914, only 30 years later, the trend towards liberal trade policies had mostly ended, replaced by a revival of the protectionist system. A study of the variation in trade policies over time shows a remarkable growth in the power of interest groups to influence the institutional rules and regulations concerning international economic intercourse. The initial major trend can be partly attributed to international conditions, whereas later trends are more attributable to the relative strength of the interest groups within individual nations and their ability to influence institutional policies. It is, however, necessary to always consider the impact of the international economic situation on the interest groups, as changes in the international arena often played a significant role in determining which interest groups held power at any given time.

A convenient starting point for looking at trends in international commerce policy is Great Britain. Prior to the British initiative towards free trade, there were two main bar

In Britain this political turmoil led to a trend towards free trade and a demand for the repeal of the Corn Laws by the industrialists and merchants. Richard Cobden, an industrialist, formed the Anti-Corn Law League2 in 1839 which created one of the first large scale campaigns to influence public opinion. The Whig party saw the merchants as a way to gain more control in Parliament, but failed to win the election in 1841. Tory Sir Robert Peel was elected prime minister, already intent on making extensive changes in the fiscal system. The Anti-Corn Law League achieved triumph in 1846, not due to their extensive propaganda, but thanks to the Irish potato famine. Faced with mass starvation Peel decided to introduce a bill which would permit the duty free import of grain within a few years.

France took far less time than Germany to raise its tariffs after 1892, beginning with a tariff in 1892 which remained in force until 1910. This period represents a total political victory for the agriculturalists and manufacturers as interest groups. The main opposition to higher tariffs came from the Anti-Protectionist League led by Leon Say, who was unable to stop the rise in protectionism.

Britain contrastingly stands out through this entire period (1860-1914) as staunchly anti-protectionist. There were movements in Great Britain to return to a protectionist policy, beginning with the Fair Trade League which eventually became the United Empire Trade League. Joseph Chamberlain led the next interest group crusade with the formation of the Tariff Reform League. However, the liberals in power counterattacked vehemently and succeeded in blocking all attempts at levying retaliatory tariffs. It is logical that in Britain the resistance to protectionism would have remained strong even when faced with economic stagnation, given that almost all the manufacturers and economists believed that free trade was the dogma which had propelled Britain to economic prosperity.

Spain, the Italian customs union, and Russia all relaxed their highly protectionist laws from 1850 onward as a result of the spectacular economic success of Great Britain and the ratification of trade agreements with adherence to the most favored nation clause. Since all had relatively small industrial sectors, the industrialists as an interest group demanded more protection. Yet due to the political weakness of the interest groups, and the largely despotic nature of the regimes as regards trade policy at the time, protectionism was lowered in spite of the industrial sector. The nations remained generally protectionist, though, and were in no way leaning towards true free trade.

The small continental European countries moved much more strongly to a liberal trade doctrine. By virtue of their size, the smaller countries could not count upon a large endowment factor and thus were forced to specialize earlier than their larger peers. This created politically stronger interest groups with a focus on international markets. As it was unnecessary to place tariffs upon goods for which the nation lacked centers of production, imports and consequently lower duties were accepted. Additionally, most specialized goods were intended for export rather than domestic consumption, prompting both agricultural interest groups (evidenced by the Farmer's Association in Belgium) and liberal groups deriving their theory from England joined forces against the weaker industrial interests to lower duties with some success, notably in the Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal and Switzerland.

In some sense it can be argued that without the Irish famine the era of free trade would have come substantially later if at all. As an international event it propelled Great Britain down the path of free trade, and it is significant that the Whigs, which became the party of the industrialists and merchants, were unable to attain the repeal of the Corn Laws without a significant catastrophe to aid them. In the aftermath o

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