Weaponized Interdependence: The Return of Economic Geostrategy

This article examines the transformation of international relations following recent geopolitical shocks that have placed the economy at the heart of renewed conflict. In the first part, the concept of geoeconomics, understood as the “logic of war in the grammar of commerce”, is reexamined in order to better grasp its relevance for analyzing the breakdown of the international order based on the rule of law. In the second part, we employ the concept of weaponized interdependence to demonstrate that globalization has created asymmetrical network structures that can be exploited for purposes of coercion, marking the emergence of an “economic security state”. Finally, in the third part, we conceptualize modern constraints through an incompatible trilemma (security – globalization – democracy), illustrating the inevitable choices faced by states, where the priority given to security can transform globalization or democracy into adjustment variables. The paradox of fragmentation thus shows that decoupling strategies that aim to secure supply chains may increase the likelihood of conflict.