Economic sanctions

Economic sanctions are domestic penalties applied by one country (or group of countries) on another country (or group of countries). Economic sanctions may include various forms of trade barriers and restrictions on financial transactions. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances — they may also be imposed for a variety of political and social issues.^{[citation needed]} Economic sanctions can be used for achieving domestic political gain.

Trade sanctions

Trade sanctions are trade penalties imposed by a country or group of countries on another country or group of countries. Typically the sanctions take the form of import tariffs (duties), licensing or other administrative regulations. They tend to arise in the context of an unresolved trade or policy dispute.There is disagreement about the fairness of some policy affecting international trade (imports or exports).

Subsidization or the unfair protection of exports of one or more products, or unfairly protecting some sector from competition (from imported goods or services).

Politics of sanctions

Economic sanctions are used as a tool of foreign policy by many governments. Economic sanctions are usually imposed by a larger country upon a smaller country for one of the two reasons- either the latter is a threat to the security of the former nation or that country treats its citizens unfairly. They can be used as a coercive measure for achieving particular policy goals related to trade or for humanitarian violations. Economic sanctions are used as an alternative weapon instead of going to war to achieve desired outcomes.

Effectiveness of economic sanctions

Regime change is the most frequent foreign policy objective of economic sanctions. There is controversy over the effectiveness of economic sanctions in their ability to achieve the stated purpose. Haufbauer et al. claimed that in their studies 34 percent of the cases were successful When Robert A. Pape reexamined their study, he claimed that only five of their forty so-called "successes" stood out, dropping their success rate to 4%.

It also affects the economy of the imposing country to some degree. If import restrictions were made, the consumers in the imposing country would have fewer choices of goods. If export restrictions were made or sanction prohibited businesses in the imposing country from doing business with the target country, the imposing country could lose markets and investment opportunities to competing countries.

Examples of economic sanctions

• Asian economies became more and more effective competitors on the international stage, achieved via export-led growth, many countries^{[citation needed]} imposed import tariffs aimed at protecting domestic industries. The intention was to give the domestic firms time to adjust to a changed competitive context.^{[citation needed]}

• In September 2003, World Trade Organization talks in Cancún between the advanced nations and the developing world were ineffective. Issues included the advanced nations subsidizing their agricultural sectors to the detriment of the developing world.

• The United States sanctioned Brazil over patent law in the late 1980s.^{[citation needed]}

• The European Union's sanctions against Burma (Myanmar) based on lack of democracy and human rights infringements.

• The fifty-year-old United States embargo against Cuba.

• The United Nations imposed economic sanctions upon Iraq after the first Gulf War as an attempt to make the Iraqi government co-operate with the UN weapons inspectors' monitoring of Iraq's weapon program. These sanctions were quoted as being unusually stringent in that very little trade goods were allowed in or out of Iraq during the sanction period.[1]. The sanctions were not lifted until May 2003, after the government of Saddam Hussein was overthrown.

• There is a United Nations sanction imposed by UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in 1999 against all Al-Qaida- and Taliban-associated individuals. The cornerstone of the sanction is a consolidated list of persons maintained by the Security Council. All nations are obliged to freeze bank accounts and other financial instruments controlled by or used for the benefit of anyone on the list.

• The United States has imposed economic sanctions against Iran for years, on the basis that the Iranian government sponsors groups who work against US interests.

• The 2002 United States steel tariff was placed by the United States on steel to protect its industry from foreign producers such as China and Russia. The World Trade Organisation ruled that the tariffs were illegal. The European Union threatened retaliatory tariffs on a range of US goods that would mainly affect swing states. The US government then removed the steel tariffs in early 2004.

• In March 2010, Brazil introduced sanctions against the US. These sanctions were placed because the US government was paying cotton farmers for their products against World Trade Organisation rules. The sanctions cover cotton, as well as cars, chewing gum, fruit, and vegetable products. The WTO is currently supervising talks between the states to remove the sanctions.

• North Korea has been the subject of international sanctions since the Korean War, which were eased under the Sunshine Policy and by US President Bill Clinton but tightened again in 2010.

See also

• United States embargoes
• Political economy
• Sanctions against Iran
• International sanctions
• Trade war
• Embargo
• Hegemony
• Individual and group rights
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Economic freedom
• Globalization

External links

• Ethical Aspects of Sanctions in International Law by Hans Köchler (1994)
• Four Decades of Failure: The U.S. Embargo against Cuba
• Steel Trap: How Subsidies and Protectionism Weaken the U.S. Steel Industry
• The European Union’s sanctions related to Human rights: the case of Burma/Myanmar.
• U.S. Sanctions Against Burma: A Failure on All Fronts
• Article by Steve Charnovitz on WTO trade sanctions
• Article on ineffectiveness of EU trade sanctions