Can sanctions really work? What lessons can we draw from US sanctions on Iran, Russia, and China in the 21st century?

To find out, we interviewed Eddie Fishman, a former civil servant at the Department of State and an Adjunct Professor at Columbia. His new book, Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare, is a gripping history of the past 20 years of American sanctions policy.

In this show, we’ll talk about…

• The evolution of U.S. sanctions policy, from Iraq and Cuba to Iran and Russia,
• How Reagan’s deal with the Saudis turned the dollar into an economic chokepoint,
• The incredible success of sanctions against Iran, and how that playbook could have been used to punish Russia,
• Historical lessons in enforcement that are relevant for export controls on China today,
• The role of great civil servants like Stuart Levey, Daleep Singh, Victoria Nuland, and Matt Pottinger in building state power,
• Institutional challenges for economic warfare and the consequences of failure to reform,
• Strategies for writing groundbreaking books about modern history.

Outro music: 1970s Iranian Psychadelic Rock, Gole Yakhe by Kourosh Yaghmaei https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmhqVPXOKo4

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