Erfurt Research Centre for Geoeconomics (EFGEo)

What Matters

The global economy is becoming increasingly politicized: trade agreements, investments, and technologies no longer serve purely economic purposes but have become instruments of geopolitical power. The end of the global liberal order marks a shift toward strategic thinking, where economic interdependencies are deliberately managed, leveraged, or constrained. Rising conflicts, sanctions, and geopolitical tensions are reshaping global supply chains. Efficiency is giving way to resilience, compelling companies to develop new approaches to risk management and adaptation. Critical raw materials, in particular, have moved to the forefront of political and economic contention, creating new dependencies and vulnerabilities. In this environment, risk becomes a defining category of economic action. Those operating globally must understand geopolitical dynamics and integrate them into their strategies. Geoeconomics provides the framework to grasp how power, markets, and security intersect—and why businesses must realign to navigate a fragmenting world economy.