In this contribution, the meaning of economic nationalism and the possibilities of pursuing nationalist policies in the context of increasingly interdependent economic processes are discussed. Economic nationalism need not solely be affiliated with statist protectionism, while very few states dispose the necessary economic, social, political and institutional conditions to influence economic policy given the long-term tendencies that undermine nationalist wills (empowerment of supranational bodies, internationalization of production, deindustrialization). Even these states are not monolithic and the pattern of business/government relations in different fields would have a critical influence. Nationalist-type policies would probably be fragmented, followed in some specific domains under powerful constraints.