Economic coercion in theory and practice: The utility of economic sanctions in American foreign policy

This study aims to determine when economic sanctions are effective, ineffective or counter-productive as a tool of American foreign policy. Sanctions can be aimed at either blocking financial transactions or blocking trade. Within the later category a further distinction must be made between sanctions which block the flow of goods to a state (export sanctions) and from a state (import sanctions). Sanctions which stop or slow the flow of goods to a country can function as a protective tariff and benefit those producers capable of supplying substitutes. On the other hand, sanctions which prevent a country from selling its products in the world marketplace should not have any such benefits. In this manner, import sanctions should be more effective than the export variety because the connection between economic pain and political change is not diluted by unintentional benefits to producers.; This dynamic has political ramifications because producers and suppliers who gain from export sanctions should take action in the political arena to ensure that their protective shield remains in place. Therefore, export sanctions may actually be counter-productive because they create a constituency with an interest in seeing that sanctions and the policies which brought them to bear against the target country are maintained.; This study features both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The quantitative section examines the variance in the amount of manufacturing output between the cases which did and did not involve export sanctions and finds that export sanctions led to import substitution. The qualitative section examines three cases (Britain 1807-1811, Serbia 1992-1995 and Iraq 1990-1995) and seeks to determine the political effects of sanctions. In each of the cases various combinations of sanctions were used, and while financial and especially import sanctions appear to have been effective, export sanctions led to import substitution in each case. The groups which benefited from export sanctions became politically active in each case and rallied support for the policies which prompted sanctions. Therefore, this study finds that financial and import sanctions are more effective than export sanctions which often have counter-productive side effects that negate the coercive effectiveness of sanctions in general.