"The free trade movement in the middle of the last century represents the first conscious recognition of these new circumstances and of the necessity to adapt to them"
About this Quote
The key move is "necessity to adapt". Lange was a politician steeped in internationalism (and later a Nobel Peace Prize recipient), writing in a Europe where industrialization had compressed distance, capital, and conflict into a single system. "New circumstances" is intentionally vague, a diplomatic catchall that can include technological change, mass production, urban labor, imperial competition, and the growing interdependence of states. Vagueness is the point: it turns a contested economic doctrine into a response to reality itself. If circumstances are new and adaptation is necessary, resistance becomes not just wrong but anachronistic.
The subtext is also moral. Free trade is presented as an early recognition that nations can’t behave like sealed containers anymore; they have to manage interdependence, ideally through rules rather than rivalries. Coming from a politician associated with peace work, the line hints at commerce as a civilizing force - not because markets are benevolent, but because entanglement raises the cost of conflict.
Lange’s intent, then, is to naturalize international economic integration as the sober, historically validated posture: modernity arrives, and serious countries adjust.
Quote Details
| Topic | Freedom |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Lange, Christian Lous. (2026, January 17). The free trade movement in the middle of the last century represents the first conscious recognition of these new circumstances and of the necessity to adapt to them. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-free-trade-movement-in-the-middle-of-the-last-32783/
Chicago Style
Lange, Christian Lous. "The free trade movement in the middle of the last century represents the first conscious recognition of these new circumstances and of the necessity to adapt to them." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-free-trade-movement-in-the-middle-of-the-last-32783/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The free trade movement in the middle of the last century represents the first conscious recognition of these new circumstances and of the necessity to adapt to them." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-free-trade-movement-in-the-middle-of-the-last-32783/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2026.
