The main concern of this article is to find the answer to the question of how the resistance economy, from the perspective of the history of economic thought and political economy, relates to the evolution of protectionism, from the trade policies of England in the era of Edward III to industrial policy and contemporary economic nationalism. The research is of a fundamental and qualitative nature and has been conducted using a historical-comparative method and a “structured and focused comparison”. Evidence has been collected from primary historical and political sources, classical works, peer-reviewed research and authoritative international reports and compared based on seven axes including policy objective, means of support, role of the state, type of relationship with foreign trade, target industries, security/resilience logic and time condition of support. The findings show that there is a family resemblance and continuity in the set of policy tools and logics between the resistance economy and the historical tradition of supporting domestic production capacity; however, one cannot speak of a direct and linear descent. The experience of late medieval England, the Hamiltonian and Frederickist formulation, the developmentalist states of East Asia, and the new wave of industrial policy after 2020 all show that effective support is most compatible with development when it is targeted, conditional, measurable, and accompanied by productivity enhancement and selective linkage to the global economy. The research concludes that the economy of resistance can be seen as an indigenous and multidimensional reading of a long tradition of industrial policy