Henry Farrell and Abraham Newman

Henry Farrell and Abraham L. Newman are political scientists whose 2019 theory of weaponised interdependence explains how asymmetric global networks can give states controlling central nodes surveillance and denial capabilities. Their joint work defines a mechanism and its scope conditions. It does not establish permanent hub-state dominance or formal state agency for the scholars themselves.

Weaponised interdependence

In "Weaponized Interdependence: How Global Economic Networks Shape State Coercion", Farrell and Newman argue that some global networks concentrate flows through central nodes. States with jurisdiction or influence over those nodes can obtain two capabilities. The panopticon effect supports surveillance of network flows. The chokepoint effect supports the denial of access.

The effects depend on network asymmetry, node centrality, domestic institutions and state authority over relevant firms or infrastructure. SWIFT and dollar clearing illustrate the framework where the article establishes them. The theory does not make every cable, cloud provider, payment system or technology supplier a chokepoint without separate evidence.

Centrality creates a potential capability, not an automatic policy outcome. A state must be able to identify the relevant node, exercise jurisdiction or influence, compel or persuade intermediaries and absorb political and commercial costs. The target's dependence, available substitutes and capacity to reconstitute the network then shape effect. This sequence separates topology from controllability and observed coercive success.

The argument extends Albert O. Hirschman's work on asymmetric interdependence to a networked economy. It also identifies limits. Targets can invest in substitution, route around hubs or impose legitimacy costs, while sender states still need legal authority, administrative capacity and cooperation from intermediaries.

Those limits make the framework dynamic. Successful denial can encourage localisation, alternative payment rails and new standards, reducing leverage over time. Conversely, incomplete alternatives may preserve dependence while raising transaction costs. The article supplies the mechanism and scope conditions; individual cases still require legal, institutional and empirical evidence.

Later work and boundaries

Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy extends the joint argument through a historical and policy account of United States power over global economic infrastructure. It is the authors' interpretation, not independent proof of every historical proposition. Their earlier Of Privacy and Power examines transatlantic regulatory and informational power but is not the source of the panopticon and chokepoint concepts.

Farrell and Newman's joint corpus must remain distinct from their separate collaborations. "Further Back to the Future" is by Stacie E. Goddard and Abraham Newman, not by Farrell and Newman. Its neo-royalism argument can be identified as Newman's separate work but cannot be attributed to the pair.

As at 29 July 2026, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies listed Farrell as Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute Professor of International Affairs, and Georgetown University listed Newman as Professor and John Powers Chair in International Business Diplomacy (Johns Hopkins SAIS; Georgetown University).

See also

Weaponised interdependence · Chokepoint effect · Panopticon effect · Self-undermining arsenal · Network reconstitution (parallel rails) · Albert O. Hirschman · SWIFT · Economic statecraft

Sources

• Henry Farrell and Abraham L. Newman, "Weaponized Interdependence: How Global Economic Networks Shape State Coercion", International Security 44, no. 1 (2019): 42-79.
• Henry Farrell and Abraham L. Newman, Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy (Henry Holt and Company, 2023).
• Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, Henry Farrell, current to 29 July 2026.
• Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, all faculty, current to 29 July 2026.
• Henry Farrell and Abraham L. Newman, Of Privacy and Power: The Transatlantic Struggle over Freedom and Security (Princeton University Press, 2019).
• Stacie E. Goddard and Abraham Newman, "Further Back to the Future: Neo-Royalism, the Trump Administration, and the Emerging International System", International Organization 79, supplement 1 (2025): S12-S25.