ANALYSIS OF ECONOMIC PROTECTIONISM FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF CONSTRUCTAL THEORY

In this article, I will try to use and apply the thinking apparatus created by the Constructal Theory to economic protectionism. Economic protectionism is approached mainly through the prism of F. List and M. Manoilescu. We consider the emergence of states necessary; the reasons for the existence of states will be briefly addressed in the article; therefore, we consider it appropriate to use the logic of Constructal Theory (C.T.) to analyze the economy of a state. The state is a way of life of social organization; in fact, it is an obligatory step to achieve social relations and that is why it is necessary to find ways of state economic development using the concepts of the mentioned theory. The existence of a state cannot be ruled out; a state must be developed; protectionism may be feasible; that is why protectionism must be analyzed and this is what we will do in this article. C.T. is created by Professor Adrian Bejan of Duke University in America. It is a Theory initially built in the conceptual framework of thermodynamics, but later proved its applicability in many fields including economics. It is a theory generated by an intuition of Professor Bejan that identifies existence (being) with the flow. Everything is a flow and takes place within a flow system, a system surrounded by a certain environment. Human existence takes place within this general flow and is also a flow. Professor Bejan intuited that the flow of a system is not chaotic but follows certain mathematical and logical rules and principles. The conclusions of C.T. in economics approaches the statements of the Austrian School of Economics and Law. But in this article, we will force C.T. and we will direct the light provided by it to other approaches to economics, that is, to understand and analyze, through its prism, economic protectionism the existence of the state. We will finally address some concrete, historical problems and we will try to break them into pieces, to understand their mechanism, and to find solutions. My article is a completely new approach both in the field of protectionism and especially in the use of C.T. concepts. We conclude that we can use C.T. to better understand the existence of states, protectionism and that we can think of ways to economically develop states. At a certain level and with certain compromises on both sides we can reconcile C.T and protectionism in its light form.