Dirigisme

Before the Second World War, France had a relatively fragmented capitalist economic system. The many small companies, often family-owned, were often not dynamic and efficient in comparison to the large industrial groups in Germany or the United States. The Second World War laid waste to France. Railroads and industries were destroyed by aerial bombardment and sabotage; industries were seized by Nazi Germany; in the immediate postwar years loomed the spectre of long years of rationing (such as the system enforced in that period in the United Kingdom). Some sections of the French business and political world lost authority after collaborating with the German occupiers.

Post-war French governments, from whichever political side, generally sought rational, efficient economic development, with the long-term goal of matching the highly developed and technologically advanced economy of the United States. The development of French dirigisme coincided with the development of meritocratic technocracy: the École Nationale d'Administration supplied the state with high-level administrators, while leadership positions in industry were staffed with Corps of Mines state engineers and other personnel trained at the École Polytechnique.

During the 1945–1975 period, France experienced unprecedented economic growth (5.1% on average) and a demographic boom, leading to the coinage of the term Trente Glorieuses (the "Glorious Thirty [years]").

Dirigisme flourished under the conservative governments of Charles de Gaulle and Georges Pompidou. In those times, the policy was viewed as a middle way between the American policy of little state involvement and the Soviet policy of total state control. In 1981, Socialist president François Mitterrand was elected, promising greater state enterprise in the economy; his government soon nationalised industries and banks. However, in 1983 the initial bad economic results forced the government to renounce dirigisme and start the era of rigueur ("rigour"). This was primarily due to the Inflation of the French Franc and the Keynesian policies taken by François Mitterrand. Dirigisme has remained out of favour with subsequent governments, though some of its traits remain.

Dirigisme is seen in India after the end of British rule from 1947 with domestic policy tending towards protectionism, a strong emphasis on import substitution industrialisation, economic interventionism, a large government-run public sector, business regulation, and central planning,[7] while trade and foreign investment policies were relatively liberal.[8] However, in regard to trade and foreign investment, other authors disagree stating that high tariff barriers were maintained, with import duties of 350% not being uncommon,[9] and there was also severe restrictions on the entry of foreign goods, capital, and technology.[9] Although a mixed economy, the share of investment in public sector enterprises was 60%.[10] India's economic policies during this period were more akin to Soviet economic planning rather than the French dirigisme model.[10] Socialist economic planning was especially prevalent in form of the Planning Commission and Five-Year plans.[11][12]

After liberalisation in 1991, India shifted from a planned dirigisme to market dirigisme economy.[13][14] The Indian state has complete control and ownership of railways, highways; majority control and stake in banking,[15] insurance,[16] farming,[17] dairy, fertilizers & chemicals,[18] airports,[19] nuclear, mining, digitization, defense, steel, rare earths, water, electricity, oil and gas industries and power plants,[20] and has substantial control over digitalization, Broadband as national infrastructure, telecommunication, supercomputing, space, port and shipping industries,[21] among other industries, were effectively nationalised in the mid-1950s.[22][11][12] Indian Government has indirect control on all sector except technology and consumer goods.

Economic dirigisme has been described as an inherent aspect of fascist economies by Hungarian author Iván T. Berend in his book An Economic History of Twentieth-Century Europe.[23] However, the fascist systems created in Italy, Portugal, Spain, Japan, or Germany were a varied mix of elements from numerous philosophies, including nationalism, authoritarianism, militarism, corporatism, collectivism, totalitarianism, and anti-communism.[24]

Dirigisme has been brought up as a politico-economic scheme at odds with laissez-faire capitalism in the context of French overseas holdings. To varying degrees throughout the post-colonial period, countries such as Lebanon and Syria have been influenced by this motif.[25]

• Colbertism
• Crony capitalism
• Developmental state
• Economic planning
• French Fourth Republic (1946–1958)
• Indicative planning
• Industrial policy
• Mercantilism
• Mixed economy
• State capitalism
• State-owned enterprise
• State-sponsored capitalism

• Cohen, Élie (1992). Le Colbertisme "high tech" : économie des Telecom et du Grand Projet. Paris: Hachette. ISBN 2-01-019343-1.
• Sharma, Anju; Dhindsa, K. S. (2005). Economic Reform and Development. Concept Publishing Company. ISBN 978-8-180-69273-4.
• Panagariya, Arvind (2008). India: The Emerging Giant. Oxford University Press. p. 514. ISBN 978-0-19-531503-5.
• Tharoor, Shashi (2003). Nehru The Invention of India. Arcade Pub. ISBN 978-1-559-70737-4.