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.
Industry Reviews
A readable and lucid primer...The book defines the extensive topic and opens readers' eyes to its prevalence throughout history...[Presidential] candidates who care more about protecting American interests would be wise to heed the advice of War by Other Means and take our geoeconomic toolkit more seriously. -- Jordan Schneider * Weekly Standard *
War by Other Means: Geoeconomics and Statecraft is [Blackwill and Harris's] blueprint for how the United States national security apparatus can better wield the economic tools at its disposal. It is, in military parlance, about putting the big 'E' in the DIME (Diplomatic, Informational, Military, Economic) equation back into balance with the other ways in which a great power projects power. -- Nikolas K. Gvosdev * National Interest *
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
In War by Other Means, Robert Blackwill and Jennifer Harris build a very persuasive case for why the U.S. should make much more vigorous use of its economic and financial muscle to advance its geopolitical interests. This book should be required reading for anyone involved in making foreign policy. -- Liaquat Ahamed, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Lords of Finance
Although this thoroughly researched book is designed more for students of international relations and policymakers than casual readers, it is worth buying. Confident about the American mission in the world, the book is a lesson about how creative thinking can promote our interests without risk to blood and treasure. -- Tom Rogan * Washington Free Beacon *
Geoeconomics, the use of economic instruments to advance foreign policy goals, has long been a staple of great-power politics. In this impressive policy manifesto, Blackwill and Harris argue that in recent decades, the United States has tended to neglect this form of statecraft, while China, Russia, and other illiberal states have increasingly employed it to Washington's disadvantage. -- G. John Ikenberry * Foreign Affairs *
War by Other Means is an important and interesting contribution to U.S. statecraft in the unipolar world. -- Christopher J. Fettweis * H-Net Reviews *
