Strategies of neutrality
Intensifying strategic competition places mounting pressures on secondary states and private actors to align themselves geopolitically. Neutrality is a set of practices and ideas that can inform the strategies and of states, the operations of humanitarian organisations, the principles of international law, and the diplomatic practices of transnational movements and international organisations. This project explores what binds the many manifestations of neutrality together, by highlighting the dilemmas of legitimacy, recognition, and reciprocity that neutral actors face.
Research outputs
- Golson, Eric (2020)
- Golson, Eric (2020)
- Golson, Eric (2018)
- Golson, Eric; Lennard, Jason (2016)
- Golson, Eric (2016) .
Project lead
Professor Eric Golson
Professor of Economics, Economic Warfare Expert
Biography
Eric Golson is a Professor of Economics specialising in economic warfare, trade, finance, and international political economy. He has advised governments and businesses on complex geoeconomic challenges across the world, and in 2026 has been interviewed by Al Jazeera, the Financial Times, The Times, The Guardian, Newsweek, and other leading outlets on pressing global economic warfare issues.
Eric is a co-author of McGraw-Hill's undergraduate textbook Economics, now in its 13th edition. His research spans the effects of trade blockades on stock market performance, the history of economic warfare, and the strategic behaviour of small states and neutral nations. He has co-authored four books on these themes and is co-editor of a new Bloomsbury series on Neutrality, alongside Hillary Briffa (King's College London), Pascal Lottaz (Kyoto University), and Karl-Thomas Habtom Naman (Cambridge).
His current research interests include international trade warfare, business decision-making during conflict, the effectiveness of economic sanctions, military spending, and resource management in wartime contexts. In 2026, he was appointed Co-Director of ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½'s new Centre for the Study of Global Power Competition (CGPC) and remains an active member of the Centre for International Macroeconomic Studies (CIMS). He was previously a Junior Research Fellow at Oxford University (2011–2016).
An award-winning educator, Eric has a strong track record in teaching and learning leadership, education policy, student experience, and long-term academic strategy. He served as Deputy Head and Undergraduate Programme Director at ¿Û¿Û´«Ã½'s School of Economics, and is a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion — particularly around neurodiversity, including dyslexia, ADHD, and autism — having conducted research into learning outcomes for neurodiverse students. Over fourteen years, he has received nine teaching awards and twenty-six nominations.
Eric holds a PhD and PGCHE from the London School of Economics, and a BA and MA from the University of Chicago. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), an Associate Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA), a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), and a Certified Management & Business Educator (CMBE).