Confederate political economy: The creation of an expedient corporatist state

The corporatist approach to Confederate political economy is merely one more attempt to better comprehend the complex organizational structures and relationships in Confederate political and economic culture during the Civil War. This paradigm is founded on the assumption that southern leaders were agricultural capitalists, despite the presence of slavery, that sought a counterrevolution against the northern market revolution. During secession and as the war progressed, southern leaders sought to build and then reinforce Confederate nationalism through specific policies of a centralized government. These policies were based upon a constitution and political culture that allowed for immense executive powers, facilitated an anti-party ideology among congressional leaders, and generally subordinated individual rights to the power of the state. This authoritarian style also effected economic policies as several large interest groups used the Confederate government as an instrument of self aggrandizement and protector of personal property rights. Analysis of these relationships allows one to argue that the Confederacy created an expedient corporatist state; an early forerunner to similar examples of twentieth century governments in the midst of modernization.