1959Oil reserves (the state oil enterprise, YPF, had been established in 1922; mineral resources were nationalized with Article 40 of the 1949 Constitution; the latter was abrogated in 1956, but oil was renationalized in 1958 and private firms operated afterward via leases)
1951LR3 TV Canal 7 (the first and only existing television network in the country at the time; despite not being founded by the state itself, it began as a state-owned venture. It was briefly privatized in 1954 and renationalized in 1955)
1971 The State Bank of Bangladesh was founded by nationalization of the private shares in the eastern section of the State Bank of Pakistan.[4]
1972-1974 Through this three years period after independence of Bangladesh in 1971, the government had taken over 786 industrial undertakings. Included in this number, the government nationalized 245 enterprises in 11 industries: 76 jute mills, 52 textile mills, 30 textile tanneries, 17 engineering companies, 16 food producers, 15 sugar mills, 10 paper industry companies, 9 companies within the fertilizer, pharma and chemical industries, 8 steel companies, 6 oil and gas companies, and 6 forest industry undertakings.[5][6] A further 375 state-owned enterprises had been founded in the same period, but 320 of them placed for later re-privatization to Bengali owners, of which 211 had been privatized by 1978.[7]
1972 On March 26, 1972, the Government of Bangladesh formally took over all assets having belonged to (West) Pakistani citizens. Many enterprises expropriated 1971-1974 had been owned by West Pakistanis (citizens of present-day Pakistan) who had fled the country during war and liberation.[8] This included all jute exports and 6 private shipping companies.[9]
1972 On March 26, 1972, the government nationalised 12 commercial banks belonging to both (West) Pakistani and Bangladeshi shareholders.[10]
1975 A reversal of policies started, with large-scale divestment of state-owned enterprises and reimbursement of compensation to previous private owners.[11]
1977 This year, a total of 371 of the previously nationalized enterprises, still remained under state ownership. Approximately 400 companies had been de-nationalised and transferred to private owners.[12]
Bolivia
Most utilities were nationally owned before being privatized in 1994.
2006 On May 1, 2006, newly elected Bolivian president Evo Morales announced plans to nationalize the country's natural gas industry; foreign-based companies were given six months to renegotiate their existing contracts.
2008 On May 1, 2008, the nationalization of Bolivia's leading telecommunications company Entel was completed, previously having been owned by Telecom Italia.[13]
2010 On May 1, 2010, the government nationalized the country's main hydroelectric plant, thereby assuming control over most of Bolivia's electrical generation and end-user sales.[13]
2012 On May 1, 2012, the Morales government nationalized power grid operator Transportadora de Electricidad (TDE), until then 99.94% owned by Red Eléctrica de España. TDE owns and runs 73% of the power lines in Bolivia.[13]
1944Hydro-Québec, first created through partial nationalisation of electricity concerns around Montreal in Quebec by the Liberal government of Adélard Godbout. During the Quiet Revolution of the early 1960s, the remaining 11 privately owned electricity companies in Quebec were nationalised by the Liberal government of Jean Lesage.
1972Chilean nationalization of copper mining industry, after a unanimous modification to the Constitution by the Chilean Congress on 11 July 1971, nationalising the operations of the US companies Anaconda, Kennecott, and Cerro. The act was carried out by the Socialist government of Salvador Allende.[14]
China
In the period of Republican China, Sun Yat-sen had sweeping land reforms and nationalized many industries.[15] The rise of the People's Republic of China under Mao Zedong nationalized all private assets, restricted private ownership, even of land, and the state determined output and price levels. Some of these were reversed after Deng Xiaopingloosed restrictions in 1978, allowing private and foreign investment to enter the country.[16]
After the end of martial law period and democratization in Taiwan, the Republic of China began to privatize many government-owned assets, even those owned by the Kuomintang.[17]
On the break-up of Yugoslavia, The HDZ government nationalized private agricultural property and rezoned it under the guise of forest statesmanship, when their publicly professed agenda was to only complete the nationalization of the communists. Much of this land is in the process of being reinstated and the model rethought.
Cuba
After the Cuban Revolution of 1959 the Castro government gradually expropriated all foreign-owned private companies, most of which were owned by American corporations and individuals. The immediate trigger was the refusal by American-owned oil refineries to refine the crude oil received from the Soviet Union. Faced with the prospect of no oil, Cuba nationalized the three American refineries. This action escalated the US embargo on Cuba, which responded by nationalizing all American owned property. Eventually all Cuban private property was nationalized.[18]
Beginning in 1966, the Castro government nationalized all remaining privately owned businesses in Cuba, down to the level of street vendors. The process accelerated on March 14, 1968, with a new "revolutionary offensive."[19]
Castro had offered bonds at 4.5% interest over twenty years to U.S. companies, but U.S. ambassador Philip Bonsal requested the compensation up front and rejected the offer.[20] A minor amount of $1.3 million, was paid to U.S. interests before deteriorating relations ended all cooperation between the two governments.[20] The U.S. established a registry of claims against the Cuban government, ultimately developing files on 5,911 specific companies. The Cuban government has refused to discuss the compensation of U.S. claims and the U.S. government continues to insist on compensation for U.S. companies.[21]
Czechoslovakia
1945 Large manufacturing enterprise nationalized by the National Front government.[22]
1993 A minor part of the banking sector is nationalized, Omaisuudenhoitoyhtiö Arsenal was created to solve the banking crisis.
2015: Talvivaara Sotkamo Ltd which operated a nickel mine in Sotkamo, went bankrupt in November 2014, and the Finnish state immediately took over the mine in order to stabilize the mine's operations in order to prevent environmental damage. Terrafame, which is wholly owned by the Finnish state, bought the mine from the bankruptcy estate for one euro in August 2015. Since then, efforts have been made to privatize the mine. The state's holding in November 2020 was still 71.2%.
France
Nationalisation dates back to the 'regies' or state monopolies organized under the Ancien Régime, for example, the monopoly on tobacco sales. Communications companies France Telecom and La Poste are relics of the state postal and telecommunications monopolies.
There was a major expansion of the nationalised sector following World War II.[23] A second wave followed in 1982.
1938 Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF) (originally a 51% State holding, increased to 100% in 1982)[23]
1945 Several nationalisations in France, including most important banks (Crédit lyonnais, le Comptoir national d'escompte de Paris and the Société générale among others), the schemes and companies comprising the insurance sector, and the car-maker Renault.[23] The firm was seized for Louis Renault's alleged collaboration with Nazi Germany, although this condemnation was without judgement and after his death, making this case remarkable and rare. A later judgement (1949) admitted that Renault's plant never collaborated. Renault was successful and profitable whilst nationalised and remains successful today, after having been partially privatized in 1996. France increased its 15% minority share holding in Renault to 19% in 2015.
The Paris regional transport operator, RATP Group, can also be counted as a nationalised industry.
Germany
The railways were nationalised after World War I. Partial privatisation of Deutsche Bahn was planned in 2008 but stopped due to the World Economic Crisis. As of 2020 there are no plans for privatisation.
Large sections of the mining, banking, and shipping industries either became dependent on government money or were placed entirely under care of the Weimar Republic in the wake of the Great Depression; these were later reprivatized between 1934 and 1937 by the Nazi regime.[24]
In Nazi Germany, private businessmen had the ability to influence government policy, and most of them remained committed to the principle of Gewerbefreiheit – business freedom – seeking to prevent any nationalization of industry.[25] Nevertheless, as the Nazi government confiscated the assets of conquered nations during World War II, over 500 state enterprises were expanded to absorb those assets, one of the largest being the Hermann Göring Works (iron), mostly operated by the Nazi Party apparatus.[25]
In East Germany, most enterprises were nationalised in the years following World War II. After German reunification, an agency called Treuhand was established to return them to private ownership, however many were liquidated.
2008 Renationalization of the "Bundesdruckerei" (Federal Print Office), which had been privatized in 2001.
2007 On August 3, 2007, the Irish government were offered a stake in Eircom's copper network infrastructure.[29] Ireland's telephone networks were privatised in 1999.
2009 On January 16, 2009, the Irish Government nationalised Anglo Irish Bank to secure the bank's viability.[30]
2010 State-owned Anglo Irish Bank is to take majority control of one of Ireland's largest companies QUINN group bringing it under Public ownership.[31]
Israel
1983 Nationalization of the major banks: Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi, Discount Bank, Mizrachi Bank due to the Bank stock crisis that struck in 1983.
1978 The formation of the National Health Service provided free healthcare to all citizens, still some private spending but 77% is public.
The regime of Benito Mussolini extended nationalisation, creating the Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI) as a State holding company for struggling firms, including the car maker Alfa Romeo. A parallel body, Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (Eni) was set up to manage State oil and gas interests. Fascist Italy had nationalized over three-quarters of its economy by 1939, more so than any nation other than the Soviet Union. Mussolini had earlier boasted in 1934 that “Three-fourths of Italian economy, industrial and agricultural, is in the hands of the state." By 1939 the Italian state had taken over four-fifths of Italy's shipping and shipbuilding, three-fourths of pig iron production, and nearly half of the steel industry.
1938 The Expropriation of the Petroleum Industry: President Lázaro Cárdenas issued a decree that the petroleum companies were in rebellion against the government and under the powers granted him under the Expropriation Act passed by the Congress of Mexico in late 1936 expropriated them. March 19, 1938, union personnel took control of the properties, eventually reorganizing it as Pemex.[32]
1951 The government after a revolution nationalized private and communal forests throughout the country.[35]
The Netherlands
2008 The state nationalizes the Dutch activities of Belgian-Dutch banking and insurance company Fortis, which had come in solvability problems due to the international financial crisis.
2013SNS Bank is nationalized. It had been in trouble for more than a year, not able to find a private investor. On February 1, 2013, Jeroen Dijselbloem (Dutch Minister of Finance) declares SNS nationalized.
1972: On January 2, 1972, Prime MinisterZulfiqar Ali Bhutto, after East Pakistan broke away, announced the nationalisation of all major industries, including iron and steel, heavy engineering, heavy electricals, petrochemicals, cement and public utilities except textiles industry and lands. The process was effectively ended after the overthrow of Prime Minister Bhutto in Operation Fair Play.[36]
2011: On December 15, 2011, Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani nationalized all privately held shares in PIA, Railways, and Steel Mills, in order to protect capital flight of the state-owned enterprises.[37] Pakistan Railways as well as Pakistan International Airlines.[38] The current nationalization programme remains intact to restructured and made profitable while remaining within government ownership.[38]
1974: In the years following the Carnation Revolution, the Junta de Salvação Nacional and Provisional Governments nationalized all the banking, insurance, petrol and industrial companies. Among those companies were Companhia União Fabril (CUF), the assets of the Champalimaud family and SONAE. Along with the telecommunications companies, which were state-owned even before the Revolution, many of the nationalized companies were reprivatized in the 1980s and 1990s. In the agricultural sector, according to government estimates, about 900,000 hectares (2,200,000 acres) of agricultural land were occupied between April 1974 and December 1975 in the name of land reform; about 32% of the occupations were ruled illegal. In January 1976, the government pledged to restore the illegally occupied land to its owners, and in 1977, it promulgated the Land Reform Review Law. Restoration of illegally occupied land began in 1978.[39][40]
1948 With the Decree 119 of June 11, 1948, the new Communist regime nationalised all private companies and their assets leading to the transformation of the economy from a market economy to a planned economy.
1950 With the Decree 92 of April 19, 1950, a huge number of private houses and lands are confiscated.
1998 The Yeltsin government began seizing Gazprom assets, claiming that the company owed back taxes. Privatization of Gazprom from the mid-1990s had been reduced to 38.37% with the intention of achieving full privatization. However, the stake of the Russian Government in Gazprom has since been increased to 50% with Vladimir Putin's plan to increase the stake to a controlling position. Gazprom is also buying up both Russian and other international utility companies.
August 1977 Times of Ceylon Limited nationalised.[61]
2009Seylan Bank nationalised to prevent its collapse.
2011 The Expropriation Act passed. The government will take over "underperforming or underutilized assets of 37 enterprises".[62]
Sweden
1939-1948 Nationalisation of most of the private railway companies.
1957 The mining company LKAB is nationalized. The state had owned 50% of the corporation's shares, with options to buy the remainder, since 1907.[63]
1970s The Swedish government nationalised the pharmacies, where the state-owned Apoteksbolaget AB was given a retail monopoly.[64]
1992 A minor part of the banking sector is nationalized.[65]
Tanzania
1967 The Arusha Declaration was proclaimed in 1967 by President Julius Nyerere, which aimed to achieve self-reliance through nationalising key sectors of the economy such as banks, large industries and plantations were therefore nationalised. This failed, worsening Tanzania's economic problems until foreign aid and liberalisation took effect in the 1980s and 1990s.[66]
1875Suez Canal Company - The Egyptian share in the company was bought by the government.
1912 Nationalisation of National Telephone Company under the GPO, apart from Portsmouth and Hull. The Portsmouth telephone service was nationalised the following year.
1974British Petroleum - the combination of a 50% stake bought by Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty after World War I with around a 25% stake acquired by the Bank of England from Burmah Oil made the government directly or indirectly BP's majority shareholder, though commercial independence was maintained. The shares were all sold during the 1980s.
1975National Enterprise Board - a State holding company for full or partial ownership of industrial undertakings
1997Docklands Light Railway - John Prescott announced to the 1997 Labour Party Conference that he had nationalised this, although it was already in public hands anyway.[82]
2001Railtrack - The owner and operator of the railway infrastructure, Railtrack, was not nationalised as such. However, its replacement Network Rail, whilst not a state-owned company, had no shareholders (company limited by guarantee) and was underwritten by the state. Prior to this the government began to make use of a residual shareholding of 0.2% (including voting rights) in Railtrack Group Plc left over from the original sale.[84]
2008 In October, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and the newly merged HBOS-Lloyds TSB was partly nationalised. The Government took approximately 60% of RBS (later increased to 70%, then 80%) and 40% of HBOS-Lloyds TSB as part of the £500bn bank rescue package. The Lloyds Bank and TSB businesses were operationally demerged in 2013 in preparation for a full demerger and reprivatisation.
2013 In December it was acknowledged that Network Rail would be reclassified as a "public sector body"[89] in 2014 with its financial liabilities now formally included as part of the national debt. Much debate continues however, whether this still constitutes "nationalisation" in a broader context.
2020 The ONS announced that private train operating companies were to be temporarily reclassified as "public non-financial corporations" from 1 April due to the government assuming the financial risk of their rail franchises during the COVID-19 pandemic. The train operating companies' debt is to be included in public borrowing figures and their employees are to be counted as public sector employees.[93][94]
2021 Probation services in England and Wales for low- and medium-risk offenders brought back under public control after being privatised in 2014.[97][98]
2022 In January 2022 the Scottish government announced that, from 1 April, Scotrail operations would be transferred from Abellio to a Scottish government owned company.[101]
Nationalization was a key feature of the first post World War IILabour government, from 1945 to 1951 under Clement Attlee. The coal and steel industries were just two of many industries or services to be nationalised, while the formation of the National Health Service in 1948 entitled everyone to universal health care. The subsequent Conservative governments led by Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home and Edward Heath allowed practically all of the nationalized industries and services to remain in public ownership, as part of the Post-War Consensus. However, the election victory of Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives in 1979 saw the vast majority of nationalized industries, services and utilities privatized within a decade, although the National Health Service was allowed to continue. The Labour Party initially opposed Thatcher's privatization, but the party's commitment to nationalisation had been abandoned by the time it swept back into power in 1997 under Tony Blair.[102] However, in February 2008, Blair's successor Gordon Brown nationalized the failing Northern Rock bank during the Great Recession.[103] The much larger Royal Bank of Scotland and Halifax Bank of Scotland were partially nationalized for the same reason in October of that year. After nearly four years in public ownership, Northern Rock was sold to Virgin Money and Royal Bank of Scotland agreed a branch sale to the Santander Group in November 2011. However, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds remain in public ownership five years later and in November 2012 the Public Accounts Committee warned that it could be many years before the banks are sold and the £66 billion so far invested in these banks may never be recovered.[104]
British assets nationalised by other countries
1940s Argentine railways
1953British Petroleum's Iranian assets (actually a nationalisation of part of a part-nationalised company)
1956 The Egyptian Government nationalised the Suez Canal, owned by the Suez Canal Company which was part owned by the British government.
1962 The Ceylon Government nationalised the assets of the partly British-owned Royal Dutch Shell company.
1918: The U.S. telephone system was nationalized on July 31, 1918, and placed under control of the Post Office Department. It was returned to private ownership on July 31, 1919.[106]
1943: On December 27, 1943, President Roosevelt nationalized the railroads for a few weeks to settle a strike.[107]
1971: The National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) is a government-owned corporation created in 1971 for the express purpose of relieving American railroads of their legal obligation to provide inter-city passenger rail service. The (primarily) freight railroads had petitioned to abandon passenger service repeatedly in the decades leading up to Amtrak's formation.
2009: Some economists consider the government's actions through the Troubled Asset Relief Program and the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act with regards to Citigroup to have been a partial nationalization.[111] A proposal was made that banks like Citigroup be brought under a conservatorship model similar to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, that some of their "good assets" be dropped into newly created "good bank" subsidiaries (presumably under new management), and the remaining "bad assets" be left to be managed under the supervision of a conservatorship structure.[110] The government's actions with regard to General Motors in replacing the CEO with a government-approved CEO is likewise being considered as nationalization.[112][113] On June 1, 2009, General Motorsfiled for bankruptcy during the automotive industry crisis, with the government investing up to $50 billion in debtor-in-possession financing and taking 60% ownership in the company. In addition to a U.S. Government ownership, the Governments of Canada and Ontario also took ownership of 7.9% and 3.8% of General Motors, respectively.[114] President Barack Obama stated that the nationalization was temporary, saying, "We are acting as reluctant shareholders because that is the only way to help GM succeed"[115]
Venezuela
1975 Nationalisation of the iron and steel industry.[116]
1976, foundation of PDVSA with the nationalization of the Venezuelan oil industry under the presidency of Carlos Andrés Pérez.
2007 On May 1, 2007, the government stripped the world's biggest oil companies of operational control over massive Orinoco Belt crude projects, a controversial component in President Hugo Chávez's nationalization drive.
2008 On April 3, 2008, Chávez ordered the nationalization of the cement industry.[117]
2008 On April 9, 2008, Chávez ordered the nationalization of Venezuelan steel millSidor, in which Luxembourg-based Ternium currently holds a 60% stake. Sidor employees and the Government hold a 20% stake respectively.[118]
2008 On August 19, 2008, Chávez ordered the take-over of a cement plant owned and operated by Cemex, an international cement producer. While shares of Cemex fell on the New York Stock Exchange, the cement plant comprises only about 5% of the company's business, and is not expected to adversely affect the company's ability to produce in other markets. Chávez has been looking to nationalize the concrete and steel industries of his country to meet home building and infrastructure goals.[119]
2009 On February 28, 2009, Chávez ordered the army to take over all rice processing and packaging plants.[120]
2010 On January 20, 2010, Chávez signed an ordinance to nationalize six supermarkets under the system of retail stores of a French company because of increasing price and speculation hoarding illicit.[121]
2010 On June 24, 2010, Venezuela announced the intention to nationalize oil drilling rigs belonging to the U.S. company Helmerich & Payne.[122]
2010 On October 25, 2010, Chávez announced that the government was nationalizing two U.S.-owned Owens-Illinois glass-manufacturing plants.[123]
2010 On October 31, 2010, Chávez said his government will take over the Sidetur steel manufacturing plant. Sidetur is owned by Vivencia, which had two mineral plants appropriated by the government in 2008.[123]
After the Fall of Saigon in 1975, the government nationalized nearly all the property of the "landlords" and "comprador" in South Vietnam, property of the church and of the government of South Vietnam. All private enterprise was nationalized without compensation down to the street vendors, however "shadow companies" continued to operate.
^Marois, Thomas (2008). "The 1982 Mexican Bank Statization and Unintended Consequences for the Emergence of Neoliberalism". Canadian Journal of Political Science. 41 (1): 143–167. doi:10.1017/s0008423908080128. S2CID153937165.
^ abIftikhar Firdous (December 15, 2011). "Railways, Steel Mills taken off the chopping block". The Tribune Express, Iftikhar Firdous. Retrieved 31 May 2012. In a major blow to the economic liberals in government, the federal cabinet decided against the privatisation of eight of the largest state-owned companies, including Pakistan Steel Mills
^"Portugal". Country Studies. U.S. Library of Congress. In the mid-1980s, agricultural productivity was half that of the levels in Greece and Spain and a quarter of the EC average. The land tenure system was polarized between two extremes: small and fragmented family farms in the north and large collective farms in the south that proved incapable of modernizing. The decollectivization of agriculture, which began in modest form in the late 1970s and accelerated in the late 1980s, promised to increase the efficiency of human and land resources in the south during the 1990s.