THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AS MEANS OF WARFARE AND DIPLOMACY

Abstract

Economic sanctions have been used as a tool of war for centuries. Policymakers in the past decade in many states have embraced the use of sanctions as a tool of their foreign policies. Now the world has entered a new phase of globalization characterized by the increasing use of economic tools for geopolitical purposes (or geo-economics) and systemic rivalry.
The primary objective of imposing sanctions is to deter bad behavior, enforcing economic punishment on the targeted country, and to force rehabilitation, or changed behavior by that country. Trying to assess the effectiveness of the sanctions is a difficult process.
The success of sanctions depends on their enforcement and effectiveness. Sanction efforts are most effective when coordinated and implemented multilaterally with allies, and poor design and implementation of sanctions policies often leads to them falling short of the desired effects. So, economic sanctions can only be one tool in the toolbox for enforcing global peace.