economics

Irregular Warfare Podcast: War Entrepreneurs: Economic Drivers of Insurgency, Terrorism, and Crime

Riley.C.Murray — Sat, 27 Feb 2021 14:04:52 +0000

Irregular Warfare Podcast: War Entrepreneurs: Economic Drivers of Insurgency, Terrorism, and Crime

https://mwi.usma.edu/war-entrepreneurs-economic-drivers-of-insurgency-terrorism-and-crime/

Our two guests argue that social science provides tools to understand why illicit violence occurs. By focusing on individual incentive structures, rather than group identity labels, states can develop targeted sanctions and military strategies that disassemble and disrupt violent nonstate groups. This approach has implications for how policymakers and practitioners can counter violent actors from the strategic to the tactical level. Our guests provide several examples from the Treasury Department’s counter–threat finance efforts during the post-9/11 era.

Juan Zarate served as the deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for combating terrorism from 2005 to 2009, responsible for developing and implementing the US government’s counterterrorism strategy and policies related to transnational security threats. Mr. Zarate was the first ever assistant secretary of the treasury for terrorist financing and financial crimes, where he led domestic and international efforts to attack terrorist financing, the innovative use of the Treasury Department’s national security–related powers, and the global hunt for Saddam Hussein’s assets. He is the author of the book Treasury’s War: The Unleashing of a New Era of Financial Warfare, in which he discusses America’s fight against the illicit financial networks of state and nonstate actors.

Dr. Gary Shiffman is a professor at Georgetown University, founder and CEO of the software company Giant Oak, and author of the book The Economics of Violence: How Behavior Science Can Transform Our View of Crime, Insurgency, and Terrorism. The arguments of the book provide the basis for this episode’s conversation. Dr. Shiffman has also served as the chief of staff for US Customs and Border Protection, as a national security advisor at the United States Senate, and as a US Navy surface warfare officer.

Riley.C.Murray Sat, 02/27/2021 - 9:04am

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Oil and Rentier States: How Falling Oil Prices Will Affect the Middle East

SWJED — Wed, 18 Sep 2019 08:06:15 +0000

Oil and Rentier States: How Falling Oil Prices Will Affect the Middle East SWJED Wed, 09/18/2019 - 4:06am

Less than a decade after weathering massive geo-political upheavals from the Arab Springs, the Middle East is on the verge of yet another crisis; the plummeting price of crude oil. “Rentier states” in the Middle East, have for several decades, secured their status-quo by building an overwhelming portion of their economy dedicated to the sale of crude oil. While the rentier system has been successful in propping up Middle Eastern governments for decades, the downside to this system is the economic and political uncertainty created by the rapidly changing value in a single commodity.

Missing Economic Strategy in Iraq

SWJED — Sat, 17 Dec 2016 16:49:08 +0000

Missing Economic Strategy in Iraq SWJED Sat, 12/17/2016 - 11:49am

This paper was prepared in early 2010, when it might still have been possible to advance an agenda for a diversified private sector in Iraq. We missed our opportunity.

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Addressing an Ignored Imperative: Rural Corruption in Afghanistan

Peter J. Munson — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:30:00 +0000

Addressing an Ignored Imperative: Rural Corruption in Afghanistan Peter J. Munson Tue, 02/19/2013 - 3:30am

An economic approach to understanding the nature of rural corruption in Afghanistan suggests that ISAF anti-corruption measures should focus directly, not indirectly, on this issue.