National security and economics are often treated as separate realms, both in policymaking and scholarship. But many of today’s most critical policy challenges are a product of the convergence of security and economic factors. With the emergence of this geoeconomic age of intersecting economic and security developments, economic statecraft is central to international relations in the 21st century. From China’s campaign of economic coercion against Australia to intensifying US-China competition for the commanding heights of the digital economy, geoeconomics is an integral feature of the global policy context.

This course introduces the key forces and trends shaping the emerging geoeconomic order. As well as the instruments of economic statecraft (such as trade, finance, and institutions) and contemporary geoeconomic challenges (such as economic coercion, critical infrastructure, and emerging technologies), this course explores the policy questions confronting Australia as it seeks to navigate the geoeconomic order and develop its own economic statecraft. This course combines academic expertise with insights from policy practitioners. It will take a global perspective, but with case studies focused on Australia, China, and the Indo-Pacific.