The Political Consequences of Economic Sanctions on the Transatlantic Relationship
Practical information
A "Les Jeudis de l'Ifri" videoconference around Rawi ABDELAL, Professor at Harvard Business School.
Sanctions have become the dominant tool of statecraft of the United States and the European Union, since the end of the Cold War. However, the systematic use of this instrument may produce unintended and somewhat paradoxical geopolitical consequences. The sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Russian Federation in the field of energy are particularly illustrative of this phenomenon. Have they fueled convergence or divergence between the US and the EU?
Rawi Abdelal is the Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management at Harvard Business School and the Director of Harvard’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. Abdelal is an expert on globalization, geopolitics, and political economy. He is currently at work on two projects. One project, The Fragile State of the World, explores the inter-related challenges that undermined the first era of globalization, circa 1870-1914, and which threaten to destroy the current age of global capitalism. The second project, The Profits of Power, explores the geopolitics of energy in Europe and Eurasia.
This debate is for corporate members only.
Speakers
Find out more
Sanctions and the End of Trans-Atlanticism. Iran, Russia, and the Unintended Division of the West
Sanctions have become the dominant tool of statecraft of the United States and other Western states, especially the European Union, since the end of the Cold War.
Related Subjects
Other events
France-Ukraine Forum 2026
More than four and a half years after the start of the full-scale war launched by Russia against Ukraine, the 2026 France-Ukraine Forum will bring together policymakers, experts, academics, and civil society representatives from both countries to discuss three main topics: the formats and conditions for a lasting diplomatic settlement; Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration, encompassing both the EU accession process and closer ties with NATO; and the societal transformations of postwar Ukraine, as well as its prospects for reconstruction.
The EU in a World of Economic Warfare: Trade, Geopolitics, and the Battle for Economic Sovereignty
The international trading system has become a primary theatre of geopolitical competition. Tariffs, sanctions, and technology controls have replaced dialogue as the default instruments of economic relations.
The Road to 27 Electrification Action Plans: Planning and Investing in Europe’s Electric Future
The European Commission’s Electrification Action Plan places the continent on an electric path to structurally reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports and boost the energy transition in industry, transport and buildings.