Economic sanctions as geopolitical weapons: Structural power, intermediary states, and the fragmentation of global economic order
Journal: International Journal of Political Science and Governance
Year: 2026

Economic sanctions have emerged as a central instrument of geopolitical competition in the twenty-first century. While traditional scholarship evaluates sanctions primarily in terms of target-state compliance, this study reconceptualizes sanctions as mechanisms of structural transformation operating within networked global economic systems. Integrating realist, institutionalist, and structural power perspectives, the article develops a triadic analytical framework that incorporates intermediary