The international chamber of commerce: The organisation of free-trade and market regulations from the interwar period to the 1960s

In Chapter 5, Marco Bertilorenzi deals with a non-state actor, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). Bertilorenzi shows how the ICC’s position on international trade liberalisation changed from the 1920s to the 1960s, shifting from an explicit support for cartel solutions to a more pro-market position. In spite of the shift from protectionist to freer trade policies during the whole period under review, the ICC kept considering social costs as an obstacle to international economic activity, regardless of a widespread narrative of trade stabilisation mechanisms (such as those advocated by the ICC) as useful tools to reconcile market and social welfare.