Are sanctions effective in achieving foreign policy objectives?

Résumé du document

The issue of sanctions is currently widely debated in international relations as the international community is discussing the Iranian nuclear program, trying to find an effective solution and considering imposing sanctions. Since post WWII sanctions have been widely used for multiple purposes ranging from the spread of democracy, the protection of human rights or to prevent nuclear proliferation. However, for the past few decades, many have questioned the effectiveness of sanctions as a tool for foreign policy as the international community has witnessed several disastrous cases.

By using the case of Iraq, this essay will first define what sanctions imply and what foreign policy objective they answer to, then it will look at the conditions in which these sanctions are implemented and what difficulties they encounter and finally we will look at the destructive impact sanctions have on the targeted country.

Sanctions are an instrument of international politics. Their aim is to "prevent the exchanges of goods, services, or persons across national borders, thereby isolating the target state from international commerce" in order to foster a reaction from the targeted government. In other words, Christopher C. Joyner states that UN sanctions are "coercive measures which are intended to convince or compel a state to desist from engaging in acts violating international law" .

Extraits

[...] Estimating the success of economic sanctions, that is to say if they are “effective” is not an easy task as they are several dimensions to consider.[9] In the Iraqi case, the methods used, the long duration of the sanctions and the consequences have become key elements in analyzing the success of the foreign policy objective. When analyzing the effectiveness of sanctions to achieve foreign policy goals, one needs to take into account the contextual situation. Imposing sanctions involves a high cost and effort and has severe consequences on civilian populations. [...]

[...] The Sanctions Dilemma,” Foreign Policy 104, Fall 1996: pp.139-153 - George A. Lopez and David Cortright, “Containing Iraq: Sanctions Worked,” Foreign Affairs 83 July/August 2004: pp.90-103 - Losman, International Economic Sanctions,( University of New Mexico, 1979) - Robert A. Pape, Economic Sanctions Still Do Not International Security 23 Summer 1998: pp.66-77 - Ramcharan, Preventive diplomacy at the UN, (Indiana Univ Press, 2008) Christopher C. Joyner, “United Nations Sanctions After Iraq: Looking Back to See Ahead,” Chicago Journal of International Law 4 Fall 2003, p.330. [...]

[...] Thirteen years of sanctions had impoverished the society, decreased the quality of water treatment and utilities, destroyed health and educational structures (literacy rate went from 89% in 1987 to 57% in 1997) and infant mortality rates had doubled[19] leaving a chaotic society. Bacon announced in a triumphant tone that “Iraq was contained. It has a broken economy. It is an isolated state”[20] highlighting the disastrous state of the country. The success of sanctions in creating abysmal conditions to foster change has clearly only been one sided in Iraq. One counts children deaths since 1990 compared with 4000 reported military and 5000 civilians during the Gulf War[21]. [...]

[...] Sanctions are supposedly made give peace a chance[22]”, but pragmatically, the foreign policy goal is difficulty attainable. In addition to the immediate effects of sanctions on the population, sanctions also have effects on the post implementation period. Indeed, they contribute to the “criminalization of the state, economy and civil society of both the targeted country and its neighbours fostering a symbiosis between political leaders, organized crime and transnational smuggling networks”[23]. Wrecked societies witness the birth of underground economies, illegal activities, organized crime and an inadequate distribution of wealth within the community. [...]

[...] History has shown that sanctions are not the best instrument to achieve foreign policy goals. On the contrary, sanctions seem to have a negative impact on both the domestic state and more importantly in the targeted state both during and after the sanction duration leave countries in abysmal conditions. During the sanction period, they contribute to the degradation of the population's well-being and when the sanctions are lifted, one has to face the criminalizing effects of the sanction as well as the difficulty to reorganize entire societies. [...]