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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