A Tentative Study Of American Diplomatic Sanctions

As a particular kind of diplomatic practice, diplomatic sanction has beenthere for centuries. While there has been a few researches on diplomatic sanction in western academic community, we have not seen any specific research on this issue in Chinese academia, where there has been no research delving into the theoretical definition of diplomatic sanction, neither has there been any feasibility study about diplomatic sanction serving as a particular foreign policy instrument. Theoretically speaking, diplomatic sanction, along with economic sanction, is in the wide spectrum of international sanction. As the Thirty Years’ War ended in 1648, the Westphalian regime was established, leading to the commencement of principle of international sovereignty and foreign embassy system. Henceforth, explicit rules and unwritten norms, termed as diplomatic conventions, regulating diplomatic intercourse between and amongst sovereign nations have been developing constantly. Amongst the wide ranging diplomatic conventions, there are some unfriendly punitive and aggressive conventions, which are the exact means taken by diplomatic sanction, notablely severance/suspension of diplomatic relations,closure of foreign embassy,recall of ambassador, expelling of diplomats and degradation of diplomatic ties.Being the most critical player and builder of world politics, the leading actor of world economy and the primary propellent of world culture, the United States of America started the journey to be the major role at the international political arena after the 1898 American-Spanish War. Following the closure of World War I and World War II, the United Stated of America officially took up the baton of world affairs. With quantification statistics of American foreign diplomatic sanctions being sorted out, it is demonstrated that respective diplomatic sanctions of the four historical period turns out to be consistent with its national comprehensive power, world political status and the philosophical values supporting its foreign policy, which, also, is correspond to the fact that American foreign policy has experienced the evolution from passiveness and isolation to activeness and openness.The analysis of the overlapped sanctions between American diplomatic and economic sanctions verifies the hypothesis that there is a specific interaction approach between diplomatic and economic sanctions. Besides, the imposition of economic sanctions is generally prior to diplomatic sanctions, and lasts longer than the latter one. When it comes to practical diplomatic maneuver, it is demonstrated that instead of the two most punitive and aggressive means of diplomatic sanctions, the White House have been, increasingly and vehemently, employing the least punitive and aggressive means of diplomatic sanction, which is the closure of diplomatic embassy. In a nutshell, along with economic sanction, diplomatic sanction is deemed to be one of the particular foreign policy instruments taken, every so often, by the American government to serve its foreign policy goals.