The World at Economic War: How to Rebuild Security in a Weaponized Global Economy

by Rebecca Harding

The World at Economic War is a timely and thought-provoking reminder of the role that economics plays in modern warfare. It argues that economics itself is at war – the institutions of the post-war economic order are riven with challenges to their legitimacy, rendering the old certainties of market-based economics at best contested and at worst irrelevant. It shows how, through the interdependencies of globalization, the market system itself has become a means of ‘great power conflict’, accelerated by the rapid pace of financial services digitalization. This economic conflict seeps into the way international trade operates, into the way cross-border payments are made, into supply chains, and even into how financial markets control the capacity of governments to manage macroeconomic policy. The institutions that were constructed to deal with a peacetime economy are no longer adequate against a backdrop of military conflict in Europe and the Middle East and heightened tensions in the Asia Pacific region. Spending on defence and security seemed unimportant against a backdrop of globalization, but because the world is now at economic war, there is limited capacity either to build capacity or to fund our defence and security. Military and economic security are two sides of the same both are a means of power projection; both are deeply political; and both are our means of deterrence, defence, coercion and resilience.

Genres: Economics

160 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 16, 2025

Reviews

[Stephen Lyon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harding makes a strong case as to why economic security needs to be considered strategically alongside kinetic threats. Despite the title and cover, it is not all doom and gloom - in fact, it is reassuring to see that this topic is being discussed.

I finished this book during Davos in 2026, and it strikes me as very much aligned with what's being said by world leaders: the old order is on its way out, and something new must replace it. The mindset and approaches laid out in this book are worth considering.