Finance

Keynesian economics

Archaeology

Trilemma

Liberalism

Politics

History

Immigration policy

Monetary policy

Political economy

Political science

Order (exchange)

Classical liberalism

Economics

Citizenship

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Immigration

Capital (architecture)

Compromise

International Organization

Analyses of embedded liberalism have focused overwhelmingly on trade in goods and capital, to the exclusion of migration. We argue that much as capital controls were essential components of the embedded liberal compromise, so too were restrictions on the democratic and social rights of labor migrants. Generous welfare programs in labor-receiving countries thrived alongside inclusionary immigration policies, but this balanced arrangement was only tenable if migrants were politically excluded in their destination countries. That is, embedded liberalism abroad rested on exclusionary political foundations at home. In bringing together the IPE literature on the “globalization trilemma” with the comparative politics of citizenship, we provide a novel account of how embedded liberalism worked politically, with implications for current debates about the fate of the liberal order in a time of populist resurgence.

The Exclusionary Foundations of Embedded Liberalism