Connectivity Wars
Why migration, finance and trade are the geo-economic battlegrounds of the future
“Connectivity Wars: Why migration, finance and trade are the geo-economic battlegrounds of the future”, edited by Mark Leonard is a collection of 23 essays exploring how the world’s powers are weaponising the interconnectedness of the global economic system in order to hit out at each other. Sanctions, currency manipulation, boycotts and public divestment campaigns, controlling migrant flows, digital and physical infrastructure, and more are all being used by countries around the world.
The report, written by authors such as Ian Bremmer, Kelly M. Greenhill, Parag Khanna, Hina Rabbani Khar and Juan Zarate, also highlights which countries form the new “geo-economic G7”. While the US dominates on several fronts, especially international finance, other players exert considerable influence in their respective niches, including the EU exploiting its regulatory power as the world’s largest single market and China as a construction superpower at the centre of a growing web of infrastructure.
You can find the introduction to the essay collection here.
“Connectivity Wars” was realized as part of the Rethink: Europe project, an initiative of ECFR, supported by Stiftung Mercator.
The European Council on Foreign Relations does not take collective positions. ECFR publications only represent the views of their individual authors.
