Liberal Peace en Economische Diplomatie

This article presents the various arguments sup�porting the concept and theory of Liberal Peace. Such arguments give rise to different understandings of economic diplomacy. It is useful to distinguish between diffuse and concentrated effects of trade on conflict. Diffuse effects result from the general network of transna�tional linkages and correspond to a Classical Liberal understanding. Concentrated effects result from direct state-to-state and third-party trade dependencies. Economic sanctions and incentives are central to this Realist understanding of economic diplomacy. The main result of recent network analyses is that the diffuse effects of trade are more robust, and the authors discuss the implications for the use of economic sanctions.