Henry Farrel and Abe Newman are presenting their book on geoeconomics: "Underground Empire" at LSE. My notes from their presentation:
- 1990s view was that geopolitics was irrelevant; globalization would result in harmonious competition and cooperation.
- But global networks that were supposed to hold the world together have been means used by powerful governments to achieve their geopolitical objectives.
- Key moment: after September 11, 2001, the US realized how to use the networks of which it is the center (Internet/ communications/NSA as revelead by Snowden and Swift/payments) to choke terrorism.
- From then on, the US had learned about its superpowers and started throwing its weight around, with unintended consequences.
- Policy makers need a strategic understanding of benefits and drabacks of weaponized interdependence. Right now governments do not have the expertise to think long term of potential escalation. Authors refer here to "The Economic Weapon", by Nicholas Mulder (2022), on how economic warfare worsened the catastrophic escalation of tensions in the 1930s.

🐦🔗: https://nitter.cz/lugaricano/status/1720161110924398997#m

[2023-11-02 19:29 UTC]