Economics – Week 42 Economic Sanctions – Weapon of War? What is Friend shoring?
Economic Sanctions – Weapon of War? What is Friend shoring?
We’ve all seen the boycotting of certain products or services demanded by activists or other politically motivated entities. Where does that fit into the category of economic sanctions?
Regardless of the official nature of these sanctions, are they an effective form of punishment? Without a sense of the source – whether it stems from we the people or via an executive order – how can it effectively receive proper measurement?
Imposed sanctions from nearly every democratic governing body have had a minimal impact on Russia’s efforts in Ukraine, nor have they impacted Russian citizens in any tangible sense. The more dramatic aftermath appears in European countries unintentionally suffering the consequences of theoretically hefty punishment.
As the latest economic concept, the same people that drove globalization are now featuring a concept of friend-shoring, meaning only countries that share the same principles are encouraged or allowed to do business with each other.
However, rebranding does not make this a fresh concept. The ideals behind friend-shoring dates back to the Romans and other ancient empires. Unfortunately, each attempt ends in a fight between protectionism and globalization.
More than twenty years ago, the idea of free trade brought a glimpse at the ideal relationship between countries able to build transactional relationships. However, political power and interest crept into the veins of the concept, bleeding smaller nations dry of their resources, reverting to a relabeled form of globalization.
But in today’s society, it’s a group of financial elite and politicians branding themselves as holding high morals that inevitably push those beneath them toward financial decisions that heavily favor the ‘moralists’.
Curb ‘big finance’ and the elite to allow an ideal free trade system to become the driving force of economies. The need for regulations creates a vicious cycle of governing bodies that seem for the people, but line their pockets. Why feed the egos of the World Trade Organization’s governance while the United Nations provides a better partnership for fair trade?
That partnership provides a glimpse at what we seek with the EU only temporarily in the grand attempt to bust Russia’s attempts for globalization. However, the success of breaking the superpower into smaller states leaves Volodymyr Zelensky salivating at the vision of controlling all territory from Germany’s eartern border to Anadyr.
