Economic Sanctions

Economic sanctions are a tool in the world of diplomacy that nations use to influence other countries. Further explained in The Impact of Economic Sanctions, “Sanctions can be applied for a variety of reasons, including punishing or weakening a target, to signal disapproval, to induce a change in policy, or to bring about regime change” (The impact of Economic Sanctions 2007 ,9). Sanctions are a more aggressive tool than diplomacy yet not as extreme as war, as Hovie Huseby and Sprinz assert “Sanctions might be imposed or sustained primarily to satisfy a domestic interest group or simply to demonstrate that the government cares and is doing something.” (Hovie, Huseby, & Sprinz 2005, 482). However sanctions as they are have been proven ineffective a theory that this paper will continue to explore.
Background
It is important to assess the effectiveness of the tool that is being applied to over sixteen countries by America alone. This paper will analyze the effectiveness of economic sanctions by looking at historical and current data to determine the effect on a country's economy. Economic sanctions are a diplomatic tool that has been around since the rise of trade. It is simply one country or group refusing to trade with another. In the present day with the globalization of the world, the number of economic sanctions has increased sharply. It is very difficult to measure the actual success of economic sanctions, as multiple tools are used, making it difficult to identify which tool had an effect, as well as the constant paradigm shift that may take place in those nations. As seen in the case of the economic sanctions in South Africa explained in the impact of Economic Sanctions “Economic sanctions did not bring the South African economy to its knees. But the growing isolation of South Africa, of which economic sanctions were one element and the severance of sporting links another, and lack of support for its position in Europe and North America, helped