Monetary Power and Sanctions: The Dollar's Journey

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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