Shrewd Sanctions: Statecraft and State Sponsors of Terrorism
Author: Meghan L. O'Sullivan, Strobe Talbott
List Price: $19.95
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ISBN: 0815706014
Publisher: The Brookings Institution (01 February, 2003)
Sales Rank: 515,321
Average Customer Rating: 5 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
Best in Class
It is unfortunate that the debate with respect to the use of sanctions so often boils down to a religious one - sanctions good or sanctions bad. What nuance there is in that argument often seems as similarly simplistic - multi-lateral sanctions good, unilateral sanctions bad. In this context, Meghan O'Sullivan's "Shrewd Sanctions" presents a timely and carefully reasoned call for a more finely calibrated approach to the use of sanctions as a tool of foreign policy. In each of four case studies covering Libya, Iraq, Iran and Sudan, O'Sullivan evaluates sanctions regimes against a set of criteria which includes their economic and political impact, effectiveness relative to the goals laid out for them, the varied costs associated with their imposition, and the relative effectiveness of these sanctions regimes vs. alternative policy instruments. In her final chapter, O'Sullivan lays out a series of specific recommendations for policy makers to strengthen the performance of sanctions."Shrewd Sanctions" does seem to me one of those rare books able to appeal to a "crossover" audience - of sanctions "experts" on the one hand, and relative foreign policy novices on the other. That it does so is a tribute to O'Sullivan's fluid writing, rigorous and straightforward analysis, and her ability to continually frame the most specific instances and arguments in a broader context - both historically and in the most current and urgent geo-political sense. I expect this to be a staple in classrooms and in the foreign policy establishment for some time to come.
Rating: 5 out of 5
A well-balanced perspective
Most of us want the interational community to check countries that support terrorism, violate the human rights of their citizens, or threaten cross-border aggression. At the same time, we hope to avoid resort to projecting military power in the event of each transgression. Sanctions, therefore, should be the ideal tool. Yet, looking back in recent history, have sanctions really worked efficiently and effectively in any important case?
Meghan O'Sullivan's book tries to answer that question -- and to offer insights for those considering the use of the sanctions in the future -- by providing a detailed analysis of 4 recent cases where sanctions have been used against countries supporting terrorism or cross-border aggression. Her analysis, which finds no examples of truly successful sanctions regimes, suggests 4 rules for thinking about sanctions use in the future:
1. Unilateral sanctions are rarely effective; broad-based international action is far more powerful
2. Secondardy sanctions -- like Helms-Burton, where the US sought to punish constituencies in sovereign nations that saw Cuba differently than did the US Congress -- are counterproductive
3. Effective sanctions regimes need to be tailored carefully to specific goals
4. Flexibility -- the ability to recalibrate sanctions as the targeted country shifts its behavior -- is critical to the success of any sanctions effort
If these rules were taken to heart, O'Sullivan's analysis suggests that sanctions might prove to be a much more effective tool than they have been in the past. This conclusion offers hope, though one is left to wonder if US and UN political processes will ever permit sanctions to be more than they have been so often in the past: a salve meant primarily for the abrasions inflicted on special interest groups in the sanctioning countries by other thorny instruments of foreign policy.
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