Today, Lawfire^® contributor Ms. Maggie McGinnis returns to give us a thoughtful (and very helpful!) review of Edward Fishman’s book “Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare.”  With the war in the Middle East, Maggie’s review could not be more timely, and her keen, concisely stated observations about an important (but at times complex) book illustrate why she is such an amazing young scholar. 

Here’s Maggie:

Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare

Reviewed by Maggie McGinnis

            Should economic sanctions be treated like antibiotics? Drawing on his experience in the State and Treasury Departments, Edward Fishman, now a Senior Fellow and a Director at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), argues they should. Like medical drugs, sanctions are powerful tools that can yield incredible benefits when employed correctly.

         However, if overused, misused, or given without proper diagnosis, the side effects may be severe, and the costs likely outweigh the benefits. Fishman closes his book, Chokepoints, with this analogy, ultimately calling for strategic discipline and increased investment into understanding and mastering economic warfare.

            One of the most pressing developments of 21st-century conflict, according to Fishman, has not been on the battlefield, but rather within the global economy. Central to this development are chokepoints, critical spots in financial, technological, and energy systems that are often invisible to the public yet essential to global market flows.

          From the dominance of the U.S. dollar to microchips and energy supply chains, these chokepoints enable the United States to apply asymmetric, scalable pressure on adversaries without immediately resorting to violent conflict.

          Chokepoints’ governing idea is that many conflicts of our time may be fought with banks, not tanks. Fishman demonstrates how the U.S. has leveraged its power over financial, technological, and energy infrastructure to exert global influence through largely invisible chokepoints.

            Moving across administrations and geopolitical targets–namely, Iran, Russia, and China–the book invites readers to reconsider both conventional and alternative forms of conflict. Through in-depth profiles of officials, diplomats, and financial experts, Fishman brings readers into the rooms where critical decisions are made.

          Whether describing the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996 (ILSA) as a “toothless tiger,” or analyzing the sectoral sanctions imposed on Russia following the downing of MH17, or examining China’s use of economic tools such as debt diplomacy, the book offers a comprehensive and engaging account of economic warfare in practice.

          Fishman’s account starts with the weaponization of multinational banks against Iran, an effort so potent that it helped bring Tehran to the negotiating table and constrained aspects of its nuclear program.

          The book also details U.S. attempts to curb China’s global technological ambitions, including efforts to limit the expansion of companies like Huawei in 5G infrastructure, as well as the sweeping financial measures imposed on Russia in both 2014 and 2022 following aggression in Crimea and Ukraine, respectively.

         These examples illustrate the reach of America’s economic power, and they also help make sense of many headlines shaping today’s geopolitical landscape, from developments like Operation Epic Fury to shifts in U.S. sanctions policy toward Russia and delays in the Trump-Xi summit.

          As the headlines popped up on my phone each morning in the past couple of weeks, I realized Chokepoints offered an incredible new lens, providing critical context and underscoring how immediately relevant Fishman’s analysis is to understanding current global events.

          Although the subject matter is at a high risk of becoming overly technical, Chokepoints avoids this fate and remains accessible to anyone with a genuine interest in geopolitics and an occasional search on Google. With a helpful glossary and careful explanations of complex systems, policies, and decisions, the book avoids becoming overly dense or opaque, making it especially valuable for readers (like me!) who are new to the mechanics of economic warfare.

           Fishman pushes readers to grapple with trade-offs, uncertainties, and constraints that policymakers face when wielding economic tools. In doing so, he invites readers to consider difficult questions: Do sanctions meaningfully alter state behavior, or do they simply allow leaders to appear decisive without taking more costly action?

          And as sanctions become an increasingly default instrument of policy, do they risk losing their effectiveness over time? In posing such questions, Fishman makes clear there are no easy answers—only trade-offs, some more effective, and some more costly than others.

          Time and again, Fishman warns that deferring difficult decisions and relying on reactive, ad hoc measures has limited the effectiveness of American economic power. Instead, he argues for a more organized approach that centralizes economic warfare as a pillar of national security strategy.

          Such a shift, Fishman contends, will demand greater investment in people. He calls for the creation of a permanent economic war department, coalescing leaders from the Department of State, Department of Commerce, Department of the Treasury, CIA, and the private sector. He is a proponent of academic programs that include classes on economic warfare.

          At the same time, Fishman offers an important warning: the greatest threat to the U.S. dollar’s dominance, and the subsequent control over critical chokepoints, may not come from external challengers like China, but from within the American system itself.

          Any erosion of the rule of law or of independent financial institutions like the Federal Reserve could weaken the very foundations of American economic power without China ever lifting a finger.

          Chokepoints is an exceptionally well-researched and timely contribution to the study of modern conflict. Anyone aspiring to a career in national security or a related field would benefit from reading it. Fishman makes clear that the terrain of conflict is shifting, and those who understand how to control, capture, and close off choke points will be better positioned to shape the future of global power.

About the author:

Maggie McGinnis is a Robertson Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, where she is pursuing degrees in political science and sociology with a minor in conflict management. This past summer, she worked as a legislative intern in the United States Senate and as an editorial intern at The Dispatch, where she covered issues of international law and security. At Duke, she serves as Captain of the Duke Moot Court team and volunteers with Legal Aid of North Carolina. A Coca-Cola Scholar, she will graduate in 2027 and plans to attend law school with an interest in international and humanitarian law.

The views expressed by guest authors do not necessarily reflect my views or those of the Center on Law, Ethics and National Security, or Duke University. (See also here).

Remember what we like to say on Lawfire^®: gather the facts, examine the law, evaluate the arguments – and then decide for yourself!