Sanctions, State Threats and Economic Security

This programme focuses on sanctions, economic security, and the financial dimension of state threats.




Our research examines sanctions, the financial dimension of state threats and the weaponisation of finance as a tool of international statecraft in an increasingly fragmented geopolitical landscape.  Our approach is rooted in research, convening both public and closed-door events, and the production of regular podcast episodes, to provide much-needed input for policymakers and the private sector and they consider the trends and expanding use of finance and economics in national and regional security.

Key areas of activity cover:

  • Russia sanctions 
  • Counterproliferation financing, with a focus on North Korea and Iran
  • State threats
  • Economic security

SIFMANet Sanctions Brief

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Sanctions

Sanctions are now the preferred policy instrument to tackle a range of international security threats. However, the sanctions response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the challenges of implementation and enforcement, which undermines effectiveness and has increased the range of unintended consequences. RUSI’s research on sanctions aims to support policymakers and the private sector in designing, implementing and enforcing sanctions effectively across a range of geographies and themes.

Our approach is rooted in both research and convening and provides much-needed input for policymakers and the private sector on a tool that has become a core response to international security threats.

European Sanctions and Illicit Finance Monitoring and Analysis Network (Euro SIFMANet)

Euro SIFMANet brings together European research institutions to raise awareness and inform policymaking against the illicit financial flows that continue to undermine our democracies.

CPF Technical Assistance Programme

This project applies research in training key stakeholders to disrupt the illicit financial activities of proliferators such as North Korea and Iran.

Proliferation Financing Risk Assessment

This project assists governments and private sector actors in conducting a proliferation financing risk assessment.

DPRK Reports Database

DPRK Reports is an initiative providing open access to high-quality, structured data from the United Nations North Korea Panel of Experts’ reports in an accessible format.

UK Sanctions Implementation and Strategy Taskforce

The Taskforce aims to support the UK in strengthening the effective implementation and enforcement of sanctions and advancing a coherent future sanctions strategy.

State Threats

The rapidly rising threat posed by hostile state activity is complex and multi-faceted. RUSI’s work on state threats aims to support the UK and its partners in detecting, understanding, attributing and responding to the spectrum of complex state threats currently facing democracies.

The extent to which the UK government acknowledges these threats can be seen in the 2021 Integrated Review, the proliferation of 'Counter State Threat' policy units across Whitehall, and the activities of the National Cyber Security Centre. A similar picture exists across much of the Western world and our work has attracted interest from many of these likeminded countries.

Our research also examines the weaponisation of finance as a tool of international statecraft and considers the financial dimension of state threats and appropriate responses, including projects related to the role of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) in international security; and the politicisation and weaponisation of the financial system.

State Threats

Our work on state threats aims to support the UK and its partners in detecting, understanding attributing and responding to the spectrum of complex state threats currently facing democracies.

Projects
RUSI State Threats Taskforce (STT)

RUSI’s State Threats Taskforce (STT) aims to support the UK and its partners in detecting, understanding, attributing and responding to the spectrum of complex state threats currently facing democracies.

Economic Security

Growing security uncertainty and increasing economic rivalry between states have not only threatened this prosperity, but they have also turned ‘global goods’ and economic interdependence into meaningful security vulnerabilities.

Until relatively recently, the phrase ‘Economic Security’ did not feature heavily in the policymaker lexicon. However, since the G7 Hiroshima Summit in May 2023, the concept has rapidly come to dominate national and international security discourse. Despite this increased prevalence, the definition of Economic Security varies between countries, and the objectives and desired outcomes vary from adapting to global shocks, like the Covid-19 pandemic, to supply chain resilience as a means to safeguarding democracy and the international rule of law.

Against this background, from its office in Brussels, the Centre for Finance and Security (CFS) at RUSI, is establishing a European Economic Security Taskforce (EST) to provide much-needed clarity to the policy debate on this critical finance and security issue in the EU.

European Economic Security Taskforce

The Taskforce aims to support the European Commission, EU member states, and key allies by bringing clarity to the policy dialogue on economic security.

Latest Publications

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