By Xavier Villar 

Beyond the battlefield: Economic coercion as a tool of modern power

MADRID - In the classical repertoire of state power, war and diplomacy occupied opposite ends of the spectrum. Today, a hybrid tool dominates the scene: unilateral economic sanctions. Promoted as a precision instrument, a humane alternative to the carnage of the battlefield, their use has become normalized to the point of serving as the disciplinary mechanism par excellence of the contemporary global order.