Economic sanctions

Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by states or institutions against states, groups, or individuals.[1][2] Economic sanctions are a form of coercion that attempts to get an actor to change its behavior through disruption in economic exchange. Sanctions can be intended to compel (an attempt to change an actor's behavior) or deterrence (an attempt to stop an actor from certain actions).[3][4]

Sanctions can target an entire country or they can be more narrowly targeted at individuals or groups; this latter form of sanctions are sometimes called "smart sanctions".[5] Prominent forms of economic sanctions include trade barriers, asset freezes, travel bans, arms embargoes, and restrictions on financial transactions.

The efficacy of sanctions in achieving intended goals is a subject of debate.[1][2][3][4][5][6] Scholars have also considered the policy externalities of sanctions.[6][7] The humanitarian consequences of country-wide sanctions have been a subject of controversy.[8] As a consequence, since the mid-1990s, United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions have tended to target individuals and entities, in contrast to the country-wide sanctions of earlier decades.[9]

  1. ^ a b Drezner, Daniel W. (2021). "The United States of Sanctions". Foreign Affairs. ISSN 0015-7120.
  2. ^ a b Biersteker, Thomas J.; Tourinho, Marcos; Eckert, Sue E. (2016), Tourinho, Marcos; Eckert, Sue E.; Biersteker, Thomas J. (eds.), "The effectiveness of United Nations targeted sanctions", Targeted Sanctions: The Impacts and Effectiveness of United Nations Action, Cambridge University Press, pp. 220–247, ISBN 978-1-107-13421-8
  3. ^ a b Drezner, Daniel W. (2003). "The Hidden Hand of Economic Coercion". International Organization. 57 (3): 643–659. doi:10.1017/S0020818303573052. ISSN 0020-8183. JSTOR 3594840. S2CID 154827129.
  4. ^ a b Pape, Robert A. (1997). "Why Economic Sanctions Do Not Work". International Security. 22 (2): 90–136. doi:10.2307/2539368. ISSN 0162-2889. JSTOR 2539368.
  5. ^ a b Drezner, Daniel W. (2011). "Sanctions Sometimes Smart: Targeted Sanctions in Theory and Practice". International Studies Review. 13 (1): 96–108. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2486.2010.01001.x. ISSN 1521-9488. JSTOR 23016144.
  6. ^ a b Drezner, Daniel W. (2024). "Global Economic Sanctions". Annual Review of Political Science. 27 (1). doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-041322-032240. ISSN 1094-2939.
  7. ^ Farrell, Henry; Newman, Abraham L. (2019). "Weaponized Interdependence: How Global Economic Networks Shape State Coercion". International Security. 44 (1): 42–79. doi:10.1162/isec_a_00351. ISSN 0162-2889. S2CID 198952367.
  8. ^ Drezner, Daniel W. (2022). "How not to sanction" (PDF). International Affairs. 98 (5): 1533–1552. doi:10.1093/ia/iiac065. ISSN 0020-5850. Archived from the original on 2022-12-09.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Giumelli 2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).