Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Weaponization of finance


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was redirect to Economic sanctions.  Sandstein  06:01, 6 July 2020 (UTC)

Weaponization of finance

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There is no cohesive theory or account of weaponization of finance (WoF) as such. All mentions of it are rather rhetorical flourishes used in discussion of economic sanctions, which the current WoF article details at length (even after having most of its specific context transferred to Economic sanctions). It should be noted that this page is tied to Ian Bremmer and the Eurasia Group, which have been involved in extensive paid editing dating back years (see here). The current sources used are inadequate:

Things get tricky because the phrase "weaponization of finance" itself is not novel, and has been used before. But I believe such mentions of WoF ultimately are just about what falls under the traditional scope of economic sanctions (or criticisms of US monetary hegemony, inter alia)  rather than "weaponization of finance" as a theoretical concept per se, and thus do not meet a threshold for an independent article:
 * Fouskas & Gökay (2018), "Placing the USA–Turkey Standoff in Context: The USA and the Weaponization of Global Finance", Journal of Global Faultlines. I was unable to access this article through Wikipedia Library, so I am unsure of its exact contents, but the first page suggests it is about the US tariffs imposed on Turkish aluminum and steel–a form of sanctions.
 * Farrell & Newman (Dec. 2019), "America weaponized the global financial system. Now other countries are fighting back.", Washington Post. The article relies in part on arguments made by the European Council of Foreign Relations, which describes the "weaponization" as a form of "secondary sanctions."
 * Maharrey (2018), "SWIFT and the Weaponization of the U.S. Dollar", Foundation for Economic Education.
 * The only citation of Bremmer and WoF I found in academic work is in passing in the first page of Lin (2016), "Financial Weapons of War", Minnesota L. Rev.

In short: this article fails WP:GNG because weaponization of finance is, at best, another way to refer to economic sanctions. WhinyTheYounger (talk) 20:19, 28 June 2020 (UTC)


 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Economics-related deletion discussions. WhinyTheYounger (talk) 20:25, 28 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Redirect to Economic sanctions because, essentially, if it is "at best, another way to refer to economic sanctions", then that makes it a likely search term. RandomCanadian (talk / contribs) 02:39, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

 Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
 * Redirect to economic sanctions per RandomCanadian. The article asserts that such tactics are (1) novel (2) derive from some evolution of muskets in 1776, bombers in 1945, bank accounts in 2015, which is fatuous shows a poor grasp of history (3) practiced only by the U.S. (4) limited to action between nations (in one section) or aimed at cybercriminals (in another section), and on and on.  This thing is a mess of semi-connected words and phrases.  Its foundations are bad.  There's a persistent fragrance of Ian Bremmer, whoever he may be.  --Lockley (talk) 04:28, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, P,TO 19104 (talk) (contribs) 17:51, 5 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Redirect - As suggested above. WP:ATD-R. --Jack Frost (talk) 01:48, 6 July 2020 (UTC)


 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.