Trade networks and global security

When extreme drought struck China’s main wheat-growing regions in 2011, it was not China that suffered food shortages, but far off countries like Egypt, which experienced widespread civil unrest and food riots. This was due partly to trade networks, which can transfer vulnerability from one country to another and, with it, political, social, and economic instability. Adept nations can take advantage of these vulnerabilities to both induce disruptions and to exercise coercive power over other countries. This project seeks to better understand how such vulnerabilities arise from the topology of trade networks and to suggest effective countermeasures.

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