FREE ZONE: THE INSTRUMENT OF ECONOMIC STATECRAFT

Luković-Jablanović Dragica (Dragica Luković-Jablanović, PhD kandidat Univerziteta Džon Nezbit, Beograd, studijski program međunarodne ekonomije), dragicalukovic@yahoo.com

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.

Keywords: Free Trade Zones (FTZs), Special Economic Zones (SEZs), international relations, economic statecraft, geoeconomics, geopolitics, China, America