How Debt Becomes a Tool of International Influence
Strategic lending creates political leverage through infrastructure dependency, debt distress, and competing creditor dynamics.
Why Export Controls Often Backfire
When technology restrictions accelerate the very development they aim to prevent
The Hidden Costs of Supply Chain Reshoring
Why bringing factories home costs more than politicians admit—and what realistic resilience looks like
The Strategic Logic of Energy Export Controls
Why energy-rich nations restrict exports for strategic gains, not just profits
How Trade Routes Become Strategic Chokepoints
Why the narrowest waterways hold the widest geopolitical significance in global trade.
How Food Security Drives Foreign Policy Decisions
Why nations that can't feed themselves make foreign policy compromises that seem irrational until you follow the grain supply.
Why Free Trade Zones Become Geopolitical Battlegrounds
How special economic zones serve as tools of technology transfer, influence projection, and strategic competition far beyond their advertised investment benefits
How Trade Agreements Shape Domestic Industries for Decades
Trade agreements don't just open markets—they lock in industrial trajectories that reshape regional economies for generations after the ink dries.
The Strategic Calculus of Foreign Direct Investment
Why governments simultaneously chase and restrict foreign capital in an era of strategic economic competition
Why Industrial Policy Is Back in Fashion
How geopolitical competition and supply chain shocks ended the era of market orthodoxy and launched a new age of strategic state intervention
Why Countries Weaponize Rare Earth Minerals
The seventeen obscure elements that power modern technology have become instruments of great power competition and economic coercion.
The Economics of Alliance Burden-Sharing
Why allies argue endlessly about who pays for collective security—and what these disputes reveal about strategic priorities.
Why Economic Sanctions Rarely Work as Intended
The strategic gap between imposing economic costs and achieving political objectives reveals why sanctions often punish without persuading.
The Hidden Logic Behind Currency Wars
Why nations deliberately weaken their money, how trading partners fight back, and why these invisible conflicts reshape global commerce.