Weaponising The Global Economy

What do sanctions achieve? Are they working? What do they mean for the future of the global economy? 

Although Western governments have provided extensive military support to the Ukrainian government throughout the current conflict, they have chosen to limit their confrontations with Russia to the economic sphere. Instead of adopting no-fly zones or committing troops to the battlefield, as some have called for, these governments have slapped sanctions on wealthy Russian individuals, halted imports from and exports to Russian businesses, and most remarkably frozen the assets of Russia’s central bank. The consequences for the Russian economy have been immense, but great questions remain about what the sanctions are doing, whether they working, and what their lasting impact will be.

(Video and audio recording coming soon)

This webinar was held on Tuesday 3 May 2022.

Meet the speakers and chair

Ben Judah is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center and a foreign-policy writer based in New York, with his current research focus on the foreign policy of the Biden administration, transnational kleptocracy, and Britain’s attempts to reset its diplomatic posture after Brexit.

Abraham L. Newman is Professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and Government Department at Georgetown University. Professor Newman's research focuses on the ways in which economic interdependence and globalization have transformed international politics. He is a leading expert on the concept of "weaponised interdependence" and he recently co-edited the widely acclaimed book, The Uses and Abuses of Weaponized Interdependence.

Rachel Ziemba is a geo-economic and country risk expert. She runs Ziemba Insights, an advisory firm that engages in macroeconomic scenario analysis and policy due diligence for public and private sector clients. She is also Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). She is also on the advisory board of Enquire.ai, the Harriman Foreign Service Fellows and the Middle East Energy and Growth program at the Middle East Institute. She is contributor to EM Views and a non-resident fellow at the Gulf International Forum. She previously was an Adjunct Lecturer at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs, teaching international political economy.

Nikhil Kalyanpur is an Assistant Professor in LSE’s International Relations Department. He researches issues at the intersection of international political economy, business-government relations, law, and global governance. More specifically, he analyses how the proliferation of global rules and legal forums can serve as a channel for economic protection and a mechanism to target political competition. His work is published in a number of leading academic journals including the European Journal of International Relations, International Organization, and Perspectives on Politics.