The Shadow War: State-Sponsored Threats, Sanctions, and the Disputes They Create

Presentation

In an era of resurgent great-power competition, international disputes are increasingly shaped upstream, well before they reach the courtroom or the arbitral tribunal. Sanctions regimes, extraterritorial enforcement, state-sponsored economic pressure, and influence operations now intersect with global financial networks in ways that create immediate operational, legal, and reputational exposure for companies, investors, and states alike.

This roundtable brings together leading experts, each offering a distinct, sector-specific lens on the same strategic reality: how the “shadow war” translates into concrete disputes and risk exposures. From the perspective of global finance and sovereign risk, to sanctions and cross-border legal constraints, to investigations and information risk, the discussion will map the pathways by which geopolitical pressure becomes legal conflict, and how parties can anticipate, document, and manage these situations before they escalate.