Slobodne zone: instrument ekonomskog državništva
Free zone: the instrument of economic statecraft

Summary/Abstract: To understand the use of instruments of geoeconomics means to understand the scope of political options and to look not just into the possible alternatives, but also into its consequences. The organizational concept of Free Trade Zones (FTZs) as a category of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) proved to be more efficient than many traditional political instruments used for export stimulation, for attraction of direct foreign investments, as a means of social and demographic policy, or to achieve many other sensitive political goals. The economic interrelationship provided by the free zones offers some unconventional and unexpected political solutions for many problems. 151 This paper uses historical genesis of the free zones to make a comparative analysis of the ways and the levels of their use by the leading global powers China and America, in order to point out the potential that various categories of free zones offer by being implemented as a geoeconomical, and by extension as a geopolitical strategy. The quality of economic statecraft used by the leading world powers on one side and their balancing act between the profit and morals on the other, define by large not just the global position of their respective states, but the destiny of the world as well.

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