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Politics & government

CHOKEPOINTS

Edward Fishman

American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare

It used to be that roiling another country's economy required blockading its ports and laying siege to its cities. Now all it takes is a statement posted online by the U.S. government.

In CHOKEPOINTS, Edward Fishman, a former top-ranking State Department sanctions official and current senior research scholar at Columbia University, takes us deep into the back rooms of power to reveal the secret history of the last two decades of U.S. foreign policy, in which Washington turned the gospel of globalization on its head and transformed the world economy into a battlefield. Fishman tells the epic story of how renegades within the U.S. government built a powerful new arsenal of economic sanctionsand how an unbroken string of American presidents has relied on these mysterious weapons to confront the country's greatest national-security threats, for good and for ill. Taking inspiration from books such as Fareed Zakaria's The Post-American World and Robert Kagan's Of Paradise and Power, Fishman offers a thrilling account of one of the most crucial geopolitical subjects of our time, demystifying the intricate strategies the U.S. government uses to manipulate Wall Street, Silicon Valley, and Big Oil to advance American interests. Fishman tells the story through the eyes of an eclectic group of bureaucratic heroes: the diplomats, lawyers, and financial whizzes who've masterminded America's escalating economic wars against Iran, Russia, and China. Economic warfare has become the primary way the United States seeks to solve global problems and deter its enemies. Sometimes it has achieved spectacular success, other times bitter failure, but the result we're living with today is a new world order: an economic arms race among great powers and a fracturing global economy. CHOKEPOINTS is the definitive account of how America has pioneered this new, hard-hitting style of economic warfare, and what it means for the world. Edward Fishman is one of the world's leading authorities on economic statecraft and sanctions. He teaches at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs and is a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy. He also advises companies on geopolitical issues and invests in mission-driven technology startups. Previously, he served in the U.S. State Department as a member of the Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff, at the Pentagon as an advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and at the U.S. Treasury Department as special assistant to the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. His analysis is regularly featured by outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and NPR, and he frequently writes for publications such as Foreign Affairs and Politico. He holds a B.A. in History from Yale, an M.Phil. in International Relations from Cambridge, and an M.B.A. from Stanford.

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Book Published 2025-02-25 by Portfolio

Comments

This book should be required reading on both sides of the Atlantic as the West faces a geopolitical reckoning. Edward Fishman, a scholar-practitioner with deep insider knowledge from his time in government, provides a gripping account of the rise of a new form of economic warfare. Chokepoints is written with an eye to both the general and the specific, skillfully blending the Olympian big picture with wonderful vignettes of how the world economy works. Fishman argues convincingly that the West cannot have economic interdependence, economic security, and great power competition at the same time. We will have to make a choice quickly, before it is made for us.

Edward Fishman has done the impossible: he has written a book about America's strategic economic policies that is at once grand in scope, meticulously researched, and, above all, a lively and captivating read. Those interested in how the United States uses its economic power as a strategic weapon in today's dangerous and complex world need look no further. This book is a gem.

This peerless contemporary history of American sanctions, grounded in personal experience and thorough research, will guide all who wish to address global problems through the responsible and effective use of economic power.

How can America sustain its economic and financial advantage in the face of fierce geopolitical competition? Chokepoints provides the playbook. Edward Fishman traces the historical evolution of economic warfare, taking readers behind the scenes of the U.S. campaigns to counter China's economic aggression, Iran's nuclear ambitions, and Russia's revanchism. Along the way, Fishman uncovers valuable strategic lessons and makes compelling recommendations that leaders in government and business must implement urgently.

Remarkable...One of the most important books on economic warfare ever written.

In CHOKEPOINTS, Edward Fishman provides a first-hand account of America's effort to weaponize the world economy against its resurgent adversaries. From his own participation in the U.S. effort to pressure Iran to limit its nuclear program to today's cutting edge effort to stop China from accessing AI chips, CHOKEPOINTS is an unparalleled guide to America's use of sanctions and export controls over recent decades. Essential reading for understanding the new age of economic warfare.

Chokepoints is the best book on sanctions that I have ever reada tour de force that illuminates in spellbinding detail how economic warfare is reshaping the world. Edward Fishman combines his deep knowledge of the subject with a dynamic, engaging writing style, recasting U.S. government technocrats as superheroes fighting high-stakes economic battles. Sanctions are at the center of geopolitical competition today. This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand how the world works in the 21st century.

Complex Chinese: Walkers

Brilliant, timely, and impossible to put down, CHOKEPOINTS is one of those rare books that utterly changes how you see the world. Edward Fishman pulls back the curtain on the hidden world of economic warfare, telling the untold story of how a rogue group of U.S. officials quietly reinvented U.S. foreign policy. He puts readers in the room as policymakers experiment with sanctions and other once-obscure tools to fight the biggest geopolitical threats of the day: a nuclear Iran, a resurgent Russia, and an assertive China. Combining the insider knowledge of a practitioner, the analytical insight of a scholar, and the narrative instincts of a born storyteller, Fishman has written a book that is as engrossing as it is urgent. No one seeking to understand the global economy or America's role in the world can afford to ignore this indispensable page turner.

Brilliant and eye-openingweaving together economic, geopolitical, and strategic analysis. Edward Fishman's riveting account of the global economic 'battlefield' sheds fascinating new light on our struggles with Iran, Russia, and China. An indispensable book for anyone who wants to understand current and future conflicts.

Sanctions are vital weapons in the war for global power and influence. Chokepoints is a master class in how sanctions work, and why, sometimes, they don't. It is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand global competition today.