States, Firms, and Geoeconomic Agency

Abstract How much agency do firms have to influence the design and implementation of economic statecraft and economic security policies, and when and how is it exercised? Much scholarship in the emerging interdisciplinary field of geoeconomics adopts a state-centric perspective in which firms play a largely subordinate role to government. This introduction makes the case for flipping the focus and outlines why a firm-centred approach can fruitfully complement emerging research on issues at the intersection of international political economy and security studies. We begin by situating the overarching theme of geoeconomic agency within the wider literature on state-firm relations in international relations and by sketching some core conceptual and theoretical foundations. We then introduce the articles and how they individually and collectively address the core questions motivating this issue. Finally, we consider the articles from a legal perspective and sketch several promising research agendas which they raise.