Mark Harrison

Book Launch: Economic Warfare and Sanctions since 1688 How have economic warfare and sanctions been applied in modern history? A new book Economic Warfare and Sanctions Since 1688 edited by leading economic historians Stephen Broadberry (University of…

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 😎

Возможное присутствие человеческих трупов: книги недели Что спрашивать в книжных Левиафаны и кадавры советской секретности, богатое (в хорошем смысле слова) археологическое воображение Олега Ивика, повседневность уральцев во времена Гражданской войны, п...

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

My best of 2025 Explore this photo album by mark4harrison on Flickr!

My best photos of 2025 www.flickr.com/gp/mark4harr...

U.S. Strategists Keep Getting France’s Defeat Wrong Myths about the Maginot Line are strangely persistent.

“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

Economic Warfare and Sanctions Since 1688 | Cambridge University Press & Assessment

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

How Vlad used sex tape to seize power... and spies use secrets to keep him there RISING through the ranks of Russia’s elite and consolidating his power, Vladimir Putin weaponised sex and secrets to crush his political opponents. The former KGB officer used underhanded esp…

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

The ‘World at War’ Is Becoming Increasingly Lawless International and domestic violence, have long been seen as intrinsically linked, largely because they both can feed on one another.

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.

Vladimir Putin’s dangerous drone probe is a moment of truth for NATO Poland’s prime minister warns of “open conflict” with Russia

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.

⚡️ 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.

2025 State of the Union Address by President von der Leyen President von der Leyen delivered the first State of the Union Address of the 2024-2029 Commission. \n

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.

The Great Question of History: India, Britain, and the Fates of Nations | Live at the British Academy On Humans · Episode

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.
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Gonna need some foreign help with those midterms, I guess.

Trump Revokes Security Clearances of 37 Former and Current Officials

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...)

A Letter to America’s Discarded Public Servants You all deserved better.

Remarkable open letter from Bill Burns. "If intelligence analysts at the CIA saw our rivals engage in this kind of great-power suicide, we would break out the bourbon. Instead, the sound we hear is of champagne glasses clinking in the Kremlin and Zhongnanhai." theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

1/2. The phrase "land swap" is being used to mean "Ukraine concedes land illegally occupied by Russia and also concedes territory that is not even occupied." That is not a swap.

Seeds of trust: How churches helped sustain civic life behind the “iron curtain” Safeguarding even small civic spaces can be crucial for strengthening democracy in the long run

🧵 In a recent IZA Discussion Paper, @stepanmikula.bsky.social, @tommasoreggiani.bsky.social, and I study how civic culture can persist—or even emerge—under authoritarian rule.
In the IZA World of Labor commentary linked below, you can also find a short non-technical summary.

#EconSky

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"Growth is the number one priority" but the government needs money so let's stick a 6% tariff on one of our own more successful export industries

Take it from a historian: it is worthwhile to keep an eye on Russia's agricultural performance

Why does sovereign recognition matter?

Because it is foundational to the current international system.

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Recognizing Palestinian Statehood Isn’t Just Political Theater France, the U.K. and Canada are all prepared to recognize the state of Palestine. What does that actually mean in international relations?

France, the U.K. and Canada are all prepared to recognize the state of Palestine. What does that actually mean in international relations?

@profpaulpoast.bsky.social explains: