A WORLD HISTORY OF ECONOMIC CONFLICT

For the first time, an account of the violence of economic relations in the world, from the Middle Ages to today.

The world is at war, an economic war involving States and big business. Most economists steadfastly refuse to pay any attention to this war. As if competition, god-like, could do no wrong. Yet this is not a nebulous concept or an invention: the economic war is a fact that newspapers report on daily, without revealing its significance: Chinese strategy in Africa, the price of gas used as a weapon by Moscow, American air tankers bidding scandal, global competition for arable land This book is the first global synthesis on this subject, exposing its stakes and risks.

The book opens with a broad introduction defining the subject and establishing the concept of economic war. The three sections that follow correspond to crucial historical moments that mark turning points in humanity's trade relations. The structuring of trade around fairs, and the rivalries of the Italian city-states illustrate moments of fierce competition in the Middle Ages. The second part focuses mainly on the great discoveries of the fifteenth century, notably the Indian Ocean trade route. Finally, the third part traces the great economic battles from the Industrial Revolution to the present: the race for hydrocarbons, the war over patents for electricity, the fierce rivalries of railway giants.

ALI LAÏDI hosts the Journal de l'Intelligence économique on the TV channel France 24, and is a researcher at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS). To obtain his doctorate in political science, he defended a thesis at the Sorbonne on the economic war in international relations. He teaches at Sciences Po Paris. He has already published several books including Les Etats en guerre économique (States in economic warfare, Seuil, 2010) and Aux sources de la guerre économique. Fondements politiques et philosophiques (The sources of economic conflict. Political and philosophical foundations, Armand Colin, 2012).