Today we’re releasing part one of our a two-part conversation with Nick Mulder, a history professor at Cornell and author of The Economic Weapon: The Rise of Sanctions as a Tool of Modern War — a Foreign Affairs Best Book of 2022.

With cohost Lars, Schönander, we discuss:

The recent advent of the use of sanctions (for example, in the Crimean War, Britain continued to fulfill payments to Russia, the nation it was fighting right then!)
Why Europeans were reluctant to employ blockades and sanctions in the early twentieth century, and how their thinking evolved through two world wars
How Wilson’s notion of “moral sanctions” and decision to keep blockades in place after the war were important to the development of sanctions, especially during the interwar period
The League of Nations’ efforts to establish a “positive sanctions” fund, and why the concept never took off
Nick’s take on why Hoover is underrated
When and why Italy almost fought a war against Germany over Austria

Stay tuned for part two, when we connect this sanctions history to implications to US-China relations today!

Nick’s excellent book: https://www.amazon.com/Economic-Weapon-Rise-Sanctions-Modern/dp/0300259360

Outro music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzd4VtkNjmc

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The Spectre of War

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