Geoeconomic Analysis of Price of Persistence in the Fight against Terrorism: Financial Flows and the Psychology of Warfare

The article investigates how financial systems impact the willingness to engage in combat during counterterrorism operations by studying financial systems as psychological forces that impact both state and nonstate entities. The research uses evidence from Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Somalia to show that financial disruption operates as a primary element in unconventional warfare by weakening enemy forces while strengthening allied military power. The bidirectional analytical framework evaluates the financial warfare tactics used by U.S. Marine Corps and Coalition forces to weaken terrorist capabilities and the funding methods terrorists use to maintain their operations. The argument states that systemic geoeconomic pressure results in adversaries losing their psychological strength and their ability to conduct military operations. Geoeconomic pressure produces combined effects that connect financial strategy to Marine Corps doctrine through a unified theoretical framework.