Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy

Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman examine how the United States converted global communication networks and financial channels into tools of geopolitical surveillance and coercion. They describe how physical infrastructure, such as fiber optic cables and the SWIFT messaging system, funnels through American jurisdictions, creating "chokepoints" that the government exploits. The authors detail how Washington moved from passive monitoring of terrorist financing to active "weaponized interdependence," using these central nodes to impose sanctions, block international payments, and extract intelligence from foreign adversaries and allies alike.

Policy analysts, international relations students, and finance professionals read this work to understand the structural realities of modern statecraft. It provides a technical framework for how global trade networks become mechanisms for national security policy. Readers gain a clear perspective on why economic globalization did not lead to a flat world, but instead concentrated power within specific technical hubs. They walk away with a map of the hidden vulnerabilities in the global supply chain and the risks of a fragmented internet.