Welcome to the Centre for Economic Security (CES)
At the forefront of global dialogue on economic resilience and national security, led by the esteemed Dr. Rebecca Harding, the CES is your independent think-tank partner, committed to developing strategies and providing data-driven insights for a secure economic future.
The Context: Economic Statecraft 2.0
The response of the “West” to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been to fight through economic means: sanctions on businesses and individuals, export controls to limit trade in certain products from toasters through to semi-conductors, limits on Russian central bank access to markets, and exclusion from the SWIFT payments system. Such measures explicitly target the interdependencies associated with globalisation itself – the free movement of capital, people, technologies, goods and services across borders. However, the efficacy of these levers to underpin economic security remains an open question, not least because:
Analogue Trade's Digital Risks
So much of the global trade enterprise remains deeply analogue; shortcomings in this digital architecture have not only generated significant freedom for criminality but created a vacuum in which the protocols for digital trade and finance could be turned against us.
Supply Chain Blind Spots in National Security
A poor understanding of the deep supply chains which underpin security, resilience, and more widely critical national infrastructures has confounded the intelligent and targeted application of finance both to deter and to protect.
Security Flaws in Sustainable Regulations
In response to the securitisation of sustainability and related investment, emerging regulatory frameworks for risk management and mitigation are creating perverse and unintended outcomes when viewed through the lens of national security.
Without a more integrated and strategic approach to financial and economic warfare, our capabilities and the credibility of our threat will be limited as our adversaries outmanoeuvre us or, worse, weaponise those same dependencies against us. The need to work across these interdependencies to develop and promote effective strategies for these vital areas of economic security could not be more acute.
Unveiling Hidden Risks in Global Security and Trade
CES Purpose
The Centre for Economic Security (CES) is a nexus for:
Convening Expert Groups: Assembling thought leaders to sculpt the future of economic security.
Best Practice Identification: Crafting operational frameworks for economic warfare and statecraft.
Research Collaboration: Partnering with preeminent researchers to assess threats and craft responses.
Be part of CES
Are you are a bank, a corporate or a policy maker that needs to understand the role of trade finance in economic security?
Do you want to contribute to the development of economic security measures and policies as defensive and offensive tools in UK national interests?
Do you want to provide finance to defence and security supply chains?
Or might you want to make critical supply chains more efficient through the use of digital passports?
Do you have access to reliable sources of company data?
Or do you just need to be on top of actionable and leading-edge thinking, research and data so that you can make clear decisions on the back of evidence?
Do you need to know where the most likely areas of sanctions diversion, evasion or non-compliance might be?
Can you support with the provision of data on any of these areas?
If your answer is yes to any or all of the above, then do contact us to join the CES!
International Consortium For The Study Of Economic Leverage In Peace and Conflict: ICEL
CES works with the ICEL to ensure that thinking and definitions are based on world-class thinking and research. The ICEL serves as a hub connecting a global network of scholars, practitioners, government actors, and corporate agents involved in the study and application of economic levers of power for national security. ICEL focuses on developing skills in managing economic resources to achieve political, security, and resilience goals. It emphasises the importance of defining and understanding concepts like Economic Warfare and Statecraft, and aspires to influence policy through rigorous analysis and discussion. Additionally, ICEL acts as a repository of expertise, ensuring that the lessons from historical economic confrontations are not forgotten amid current global challenges.