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Nations and Markets

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  • Harlan Grant Cohen

Abstract

Economics and security seem increasingly intertwined. Citing national security, states subject foreign investments to new scrutiny, even unwinding mergers. The provision of 5G has become a diplomatic battleground—Huawei at its center. Meanwhile, states invoke national security to excuse trade wars. The USA invoked the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade national security exception to impose steel and aluminum tariffs, threatening more on automotive parts. Russia invoked that provision to justify its blockade of Ukraine, as did Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to excuse theirs of Qatar. And with the spread of COVID-19, states are invoking national security to scrutinize supply lines. Multiplying daily, such stories have led some observers to dub the era one of geoeconomics. Nonetheless, these developments remain difficult to judge, and the relationship between economics and national security remains confused and slippery. The essay seeks clarity in the deeper logic of these labels, revealing a fundamental choice between the logics of markets and the logics of state. Whether invoked to ‘secure’ borders, privacy, health, the environment, or jobs, ‘national security’ is a claim about the proper location of policymaking. Appeals to economics, with their emphasis on global welfare and global person-to-person relationships, are such claims as well. Resolving disputes, this essay argues, requires recognizing these root choices.

Suggested Citation

  • Harlan Grant Cohen, 0. "Nations and Markets," Journal of International Economic Law, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(4), pages 793-815.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:jieclw:v:23:y::i:4:p:793-815.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jiel/jgaa032
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    Cited by:

    1. Guan Huang & Zhuang Cai, 2021. "Understanding Social Security Development: Lessons From the Chinese Case," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, July.
    2. Lange, Mareike, 2011. "The GHG Balance of Biofuels Taking into Account Land Use Change (Power Point)," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 114406, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    3. Mauro Caselli & Andrea Fracasso & Stefano Schiavo, 2021. "Trade policy and firm performance: introduction to the special section," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 38(1), pages 1-6, April.
    4. Macdonald, Martha, 1995. "Economic restructuring and gender in Canada: Feminist policy initiatives," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(11), pages 2005-2017, November.

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