@mark4harrison
Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick. History of Russia, communism, two world wars, and the cold war. Economics of fighting, stealing, cheating, lying, and spying. Home page at http://warwick.ac.uk/markharrison/
“We are now in a world where policymakers need to take this seriously.”
@duncanweldon.bsky.social commends the importance and accessibility of 'Economic Warfare and Sanctions Since 1688' by @mark4harrison.bsky.social and Stephen Broadberry at the book's launch event last week.
buff.ly/APtzJKG
Alas no. FWIW, here is a PDF of our presentation drive.google.com/file/d/1n40S...
Thanks to many including @cagewarwick.bsky.social for supporting the event as well as the work behind it, @duncanweldon.bsky.social for thoughtful reflections and kind words, Michael Watson of @universitypress.cambridge.org for bringing copies, and all who showed up on a chilly February evening /3
As Steve remarked, thirty years ago when he and I began to collaborate on the historical economics of great-power wars, we thought it was just history, devoid of policy relevance. How times have changed /2
Steve Broadberry (left) and Mark Harrison (right), standing by an image of our book, Economic Warfare and Sanctions since 1688
Steve Broadberry and I had a great time introducing our new book Economic Warfare and Sanctions since 1688 to friends and colleagues in London last night /1
Excellent launch this evening for outstanding book by @mark4harrison.bsky.social and Broadberry S., with special added value from @duncanweldon.bsky.social
www.cambridge.org/core/books/e...
It was a pleasure to meet! Thanks for coming 🙂
How have economic warfare and sanctions been applied in modern history?
📅 On Thurs 19th Feb leading economic historians Stephen Broadberry and @mark4harrison.bsky.social
will be launching their new book covering three centuries of global history at the British Academy.
👉 Register your place:
To get access, by the way, you have to confirm that you are 18 or older, because much of the state control of media in Russia today is framed in terms of the need to protect young people against dangerous influences 😎
A few days ago the newly published Russian translation of my book Secret Leviathan was listed as one of Gorky.media's books of the week gorky.media/reviews/vozm... /1
How have economic warfare and sanctions been applied in modern history? New book by @mark4harrison.bsky.social and Stephen Broadberry looks across three centuries of global history for clues to how economic sanctions and warfare worked and why their effects often came as a surprise.
buff.ly/2vOcWIl
“The United States, according to the New York Times, has a Maginot Line problem.
The problem is that Monsieur Maginot’s infamous namesake fortification has little to do with what really happened in 1940.”
Me in Foreign Policy (gift link)
foreignpolicy.com/2025/12/18/f...
These studies show how economic warfare and sanctions differed, how they were related, what they were good and bad for, and why -- all summed up in the editors' introduction. Ungated preprint here warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/econ... 4/end
. . . Interwar sanctions on Italy and Japan (followed in Japan's case by economic warfare), postwar trade and technology sanctions on the Soviet bloc, and sanctions on the apartheid regimes of South Africa and Rhodesia 3/4
Steve and I are co-editors and there are 18 authors (including ourselves). We cover the Anglo-French wars of the long eighteenth century, the American Civil War, Britain versus Germany in two World Wars . . . 2/4
Today three years of work come to fruition with publication of Steve Broadberry's and my book, Economic Warfare and Sanctions since 1688 www.cambridge.org/gb/universit... @cagewarwick.bsky.social @warwickecon.bsky.social @cepr.org @britishacademy.bsky.social @universitypress.cambridge.org 1/4
For Putin's birthday I was quoted in @thesun.co.uk about his methods of rule . . . www.thesun.co.uk/news/3693614... @warwickecon.bsky.social @cagewarwick.bsky.social @britishacademy.bsky.social @basees.bsky.social
I was recommended this book by @mark4harrison.bsky.social and I am on my fourth time reading it Its a magestrial explanation of the creation of the Soviet Warfare State Do not agree with everything the connection with the American Civil War seems contrived but it is hudely challenging in its breadth
ICYMI: in my latest for @wpr.bsky.social, I discuss how an embrace and even enthusiasm for using violence abroad inevitably links back to violence at home.
Russia seems to be testing the willingness of Poland’s NATO allies to react collectively to a vivid provocation. How will the West respond?
⚡️ Poland asks NATO to activate Article 4 over Russian drone incursion.
Article 4 of the NATO treaty allows member states to request consultations with the allies if they believe their security has been threatened, without triggering a military response.
A few quick impressions from @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu's State of the Union address: ec.europa.eu/commission/p... /
New high of Americans saying immigration is good for the US
Enter a parallel universe where Lucy Connolly is a Bradford-based Muslim man called Usman Farooq who has tweeted that people should "set fire to all the f*cking churches full of the bastards", and the Telegraph would call him a terrorist who should be locked up immediately.
Farage is content with allowing people to be murdered and tortured. I'm not on that side and never will be.
What does the story of India reveal about the big questions of world history?
I got to talk about this at the British Academy. What an honour! Recording out now.
This was at the book launch of B. Gupta's "Economic History of India", hosted by the always-inspiring @cagewarwick.bsky.social.
1/3
Gonna need some foreign help with those midterms, I guess.
My understanding is that the list of people whose clearances have been revoked by Gabbard includes a career civil servant who was until recently the most senior Russia analyst in the CIA & remains senior there. (NYT previously reported it included a snr CIA analyst: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/u...)
