Peiman Salehi – Political Analyst & Writer

Sanctions, Sovereignty, and the New Face of Economic Warfare

Author: Peiman Salehi
*Originally published on: South Africa Today

Introduction: Sanctions in the Age of Digital Empire

In today’s world, economic sanctions have moved beyond traditional levers of financial restriction. As nations grow increasingly dependent on digital infrastructure, a new battleground has emerged—one where access to cloud services, software, chips, and platforms is weaponized. Sanctions now target not only economies, but ontologies: how societies communicate, innovate, and define their own modernity.

As Edward Fishman of Columbia University writes in The Economic War Era, “We live in an age of economic warfare. Sanctions, export controls, and tariffs are no longer side instruments—they are central to how nations compete.”

Digital Sanctions: Epistemic and Infrastructural Control

The rise of digital sanctions—blocking access to technologies such as 5G networks, cloud hosting, or even mobile app stores—reflects a shift from material control to epistemic warfare. These sanctions aim not just to punish states, but to disrupt their ability to narrate reality, process data, and construct independent tech ecosystems.

According to Michael Kwet of Yale University, “Big Tech firms are reconstructing colonialism through digital means. They dominate not just markets, but the very infrastructure of knowledge and communication.”

By denying access to critical tools, sanctions render nations digitally invisible—unable to participate in the global digital economy or defend their narratives.

Africa’s Digital Struggles and Aspirations

Across Africa, the digital colonial paradigm is acutely felt. Many African nations are net importers of digital technologies, often vulnerable to external gatekeepers. When Google, Meta, or Amazon dictate the terms of access, Africa’s sovereignty is challenged—not by armies, but by algorithms.

South Africa, however, is emerging as a hub of resistance. The government’s recent investment in sovereign cloud infrastructure, and its partnership with BRICS nations on the BRICS Pay initiative—a blockchain-based alternative to SWIFT—signal a shift toward digital self-determination. As President Cyril Ramaphosa has noted, “Africa must not be a consumer of the digital age, but a creator in it.”

This aspiration is echoed in regional efforts to bolster intra-African digital connectivity, such as the Smart Africa initiative and the African Continental Free Trade Area’s digital protocol. These moves seek not only economic benefit, but epistemic and political agency in a digitized world.

Digital Colonialism and the Liberal Hegemonic Order

The structure of digital colonialism is upheld by a handful of corporations—many based in the West—that control core protocols, cloud infrastructures, and digital marketplaces. This monopolization turns access into power and scarcity into coercion. As a result, liberal values of “openness” and “connectivity” become tools of exclusion.

As Shoshana Zuboff notes in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, “The digital frontier has become the new territory of conquest—one where the logic of surveillance replaces the promise of democracy.”

Resisting the Digital Blockade: The Case for Technological Sovereignty

Despite this asymmetry, the Global South is not passive. Countries like Iran, Venezuela, and China are pursuing indigenous software development, encrypted communications, and sovereign cloud systems. These are not merely acts of resilience—they are declarations of narrative and epistemic independence.

The call is clear: sovereignty today must include the power to code, to host, to encrypt, and to connect—on your own terms.

Conclusion: The Future is Multipolar—and Digital

Digital sanctions are the new face of war in a post-industrial age. They are not about guns or tariffs, but about algorithms and access. For nations seeking independence, the challenge lies not only in resisting this siege—but in reimagining the digital future beyond Silicon Valley’s reach.

From Johannesburg to Caracas, from Tehran to Harare, the message is the same: digital sovereignty is no longer optional—it is existential.

Or, in the words of Edward Said: “Empire’s reach is often most enduring when it is invisible.”