Michael Rossi
Department of Political Science
Program in International Relations

How effective are international sanctions on target countries? Do sanctions force regimes to be more compliant and cooperative, or do they just make things worse? More importantly, are sanctions meant to actually accomplish something, or is it just some form of punishment and stigmatization of a country that serves as a way for other states to show their disdain and disapproval? In other words, are sanctions something other than diplomatic performance that shows "something is being done"?

This lecture examines these questions and concludes that as a short answer, sanctions don't do much. As a longer answer, sanctions aren't effective, but there's reasons why they continue to be implemented, and if the past twenty years tell us anything, sanctions are evolving from comprehensive blanket policies of collective punishment to more targeted types of sanctions that go after transgressing regimes, regime leadership, and probably most effectively, close networks of regime leaders, while leaving the general population (which oftentimes gets the brunt effect of these sanctions) unsacthed.

Chapter Markers

00:00 - 10:08 - Sanctions as a form of Intervention
10:08 - 14:47 - Why Use Sanctions?
14:47 - 23:28 - More than Just Coercion
23:28 - 30:21 - But do Sanctions Work?
30:21 - 33:32 - So Why Continue to Advocate for Them?
33:32 - 42:14 - Can Sanctions be Improved?
42:14 - 48:37 - A Time Limit on Effectiveness - The Case of Russia
48:37 - 58:32 - Parting Thoughts

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