THE BUSINESS OF WAR: WHO BENEFITS AND WHO PAYS?

Abstract

This article studies the structure of war economies by asking two correlated questions: Who benefits from war, and who eventually pays the price? It explores the role of corporate, state, and non-state actors in building and supporting war economies. It also studies the normative and legal frameworks, or lack thereof, that oversee war racketeering under international law, emphasising the crucial need for reforms in arms trade supervision, conflict funding, and corporate accountability mechanisms. By mapping the outlines of economic interests rooted within modern warfare, this article aims to alter the dialogue on conflict from one that focuses wholly on politics and security to one that interrogates the financial motives reinforcing violence. In doing so, it encounters the moral objectivity often attributed to war-related industries and underlines the necessity for international law to adapt to the economic truths of the present armed conflict.