Colleagues & Friends,
The Louisiana Purchase. Lend-Lease Act. The Marshall Plan. Bretton Woods. Eisenhower’s threat to sink the British pound over the Suez Crisis. Many of the great successes in U.S. foreign policy history did not involve boots on the ground. Instead, they relied on geoeconomics – the use of economic instruments to promote geopolitical objectives. They are powerful tools that have sadly fallen out of favor in Washington. Indeed, despite having the most powerful economy, the United States too often reaches for the gun instead of the purse.
Not so in the capitals of our rivals and adversaries. From a resurgent Russia to a rising China and across the Middle East, countries are waging geopolitics with capital, attempting with sovereign checkbooks and other economic levers to achieve strategic objectives that in the past were often the stuff of military coercion or conquest. In short, the geoeconomic playing field is now sharply tilting against us, and unless this is corrected, the price in American blood and treasure will only grow.
How to correct it is the subject of my new book with Jennifer M. Harris, "War by Other Means: Geoeconomics and Statecraft." In it, we explain:
The seven instruments of geoeconomics: trade policy, investment policy, economic sanctions, the cybersphere, aid, monetary policy, and energy and commodity policies.
Why America is uniquely self-constrained. The rules-based system we set in place after World War II benefited the U.S. for decades, but now the system is fraying and global competitors are taking advantage. Our geoeconomic policies are hampered by neglect and resistance, leaving us overly reliant on traditional military force.
Why the future of the European Union is more in the hands of bond traders than politicians.
How China is wielding geoeconomics to advantage from Taiwan and North Korea to Japan, India, and even Latin America.
Why the time has come for America’s foreign policy and national security establishment to rethink some of its most basic premises, including the composition of power itself, and what steps can be taken to ensure that Washington effectively wields its geoeconomic power in the 21st century.
Should Washington send lethal weapons to Ukraine? Should it intervene militarily more actively in the Syrian civil war? Should America deploy more boots on the ground in Iraq? What should be the components of the Obama administration’s pivot to Asia?
Questions like these are typically debated primarily in terms of military resources. That’s a mistake. The challenges Washington faces today require nothing less than a new vision of U.S. statecraft. "War by Other Means" helps to articulate this vision.
I invite you to read our new book. Jennifer and I welcome your feedback.
Best regards,
Ambassador Robert D. Blackwill
Senior Fellow, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
VISIT BOOK PAGE
War by Other Means: Geoeconomics and Statecraft
Book, Belknap PressApril 11, 2016
Authors: Robert D. Blackwill, International Council Member, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Jennifer M. Harris
Ordering Information for this publication
Today, nations increasingly carry out geopolitical combat through economic means. Policies governing everything from trade and investment to energy and exchange rates are wielded as tools to win diplomatic allies, punish adversaries, and coerce those in between. Not so in the United States, however. America still too often reaches for the gun over the purse to advance its interests abroad. The result is a playing field sharply tilting against the United States.
In a cogent analysis of why the United States is losing ground as a world power and what it can do to reverse the trend, War by Other Means describes the statecraft of geoeconomics: the use of economic instruments to achieve geopolitical goals. Geoeconomics has long been a lever of America’s foreign policy. But factors ranging from U.S. bureaucratic politics to theories separating economics from foreign policy leave America ill prepared for this new era of geoeconomic contest, while rising powers, especially China, are adapting rapidly. The rules-based system Americans set in place after World War II benefited the United States for decades, but now, as the system frays and global competitors take advantage, America is uniquely self-constrained. Its geoeconomic policies are hampered by neglect and resistance, leaving the United States overly reliant on traditional military force.
Drawing on immense scholarship and government experience, Robert Blackwill and Jennifer Harris show that if America’s policies are left uncorrected, the price in American blood and treasure will only grow. What geoeconomic warfare requires is a new vision of U.S. statecraft.
Praise for War by Other Means:
“Robert Blackwill and Jennifer Harris do policymakers a service by reminding them of the importance of geoeconomic tools. In a world increasingly affected by economic power, their analysis deserves careful consideration.” --Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State
“A brilliant, comprehensive study of how economic measures have been—and should be—used to pursue geopolitical objectives. War by Other Means should be required reading for all presidential candidates and their foreign policy advisors.” -- General (Ret.) David H. Petraeus, Chairman, KKR Global Institute and former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
“The economic aspect of foreign policy will be crucial to the next president’s success. She or he will need to reckon with Blackwill and Harris’s powerful arguments.” -- Lawrence H. Summers, President Emeritus and Charles W. Eliot University Professor of Harvard University and former Secretary of the Treasury
“An urgent message that other countries are using economic measures to achieve their geopolitical objectives. Absent an effective U.S. response, we will increasingly be required to rely on military force to protect our vital interests.” -- John Deutch, Emeritus Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and former Deputy Secretary of Defense
Full text of this publication is available at:
http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674737211
For Academic Citation:
Blackwill, Robert D. and Jennifer Harris. War by Other Means: Geoeconomics and Statecraft. Belknap Press, April 11, 2016.
Document Length: 384 pp.
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