This book explores the causes and instruments of 500 years of armed and non-armed international trade conflicts. Nils Ole Oermann and Hans-Jürgen Wolff draw on decades of experience to examine trade wars, economic sanctions, and different types of economic warfare, investigating their history, ethics, economic driving forces, and legality under current rules. They provide a clear and accessible account of the economics of trade, of trade and financial policy since the nineteenth century, and of the effectiveness of sanctions and the 'winnability' of trade wars. The book also describes the transformation of economic warfare since 1989, namely in cyberspace and in the world financial system, and shows how China's rise challenges the Western model of democracy and free market economies. The authors conclude with a plea for improved economic statecraft and an overhaul of the current trading regime.
Author(s): Nils Ole Oermann, Hans-Jürgen Wolff
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 336
City: Oxford
Cover
Titlepage
Copyright
Preface
Contents
Introduction: 'War, trade, and piracy'
1 Competition, trade war, and its modern causes
2 'Sanctions', 'trade war', and 'economic warfare'
Economic sanctions
Trade war
Economic warfare
Armed conflict with an economic objective
War against the enemy's economic potential in armed conflict
War against an adversary's economic potential without armed conflict
3 Trade wars and economic warfare in history
Overview 1500–1945
The case of Great Britain
4 Strangle a country to change its king's mind?
Causes of war, war aims, and the conduct of war
The ethics of sanctions
Do we really know what we're doing? Assessing the consequences
Growing complexity: Also in the ethical pros and cons
5 Trade wars, economic warfare, and the law
The international law of armed conflict and economic warfare
International law and interventions in trade and finance in conflicts short of armed force
Criticism of WTO practice and reform debate
6 Are sanctions effective? Can trade wars be won?
Trade theory and the plea for protective barriers
'Optimal' tariffs? Tariffs against unemployment?
Compensation for free trade losers?
Trade policy until 1945
The effectiveness of economic sanctions
The winnability of trade wars—the case of President Trump
Trade expectations and the causes of war
7 What characterizes economic warfare today?
Demographic and technological leaps
Revolutions in economics and finance
On the way to a new political world order?
Changes in the conduct of economic warfare
Espionage, crime, and warfare short of armed conflict in cyberspace
Economic signalling, aggression, and sanctions
Sanctions within the international financial system
Currency warfare
8 The Chinese challenge and the disunited West
Washington confronts China, Europe struggles for a stance
What is China striving for?
China's military footprint is growing
China's rapid economic expansion around the world
China's financial influence is growing
China's drive for knowledge—and for control
9 What is to be done?
Comprehensive competition between systems
Making the Western model shine again
Economics and finance in line with foreign and security policy
Western Europe, the EU, and the transatlantic partnership
Reforming the international economic order and enforcing its rules
China, Russia, and Iran
No end in sight
Endnotes
References
Index
