4 ms·

Have financial sanctions worked in anything other than making the people of the country remain poor?

• vkou 5y ago
  Making your adversary poor is the whole point of sanctions, so no. But that is the end in itself. Poor countries have a much harder time waging offensive wars. It also supplies a opposing fact to some forms of internal propaganda, especially when tied to a discrete event in the country's foreign policy.
  • chrischen 5y ago
    The counter argument to that justification of sanctions is that financial interdependence also discourages war. I mean, if North Korea gets nukes they can still shoot them and cause a lot of trouble, and we pretty much have no additional leverage aside from direct military intervention or taking the people one step further from poor -> dead. With Russia sanctions are doing some damage right now, even if it hasn’t stopped the war. With North Korea we’ve blown our load and the main casualty is just a destitute population over there.
    • rosndo 5y ago
      > With North Korea we’ve blown our load Actually no, much more could be done against North Korea. A total naval blockade, for example.
      • dragonwriter 5y ago
        > Actually no, much more could be done against North Korea. A total naval blockade, for example. Isn't virtually all their trade land trade via China? Short of a land invasion to cut off that border, I don't see how any kind of a blockade makes much of a difference.
        • rosndo 5y ago
          There’s a decent amount of maritime trade, especially for oil. Fishing is also important for the domestic economy.
          • chrischen 5y ago
            That’s going from passive to active though. If active it can be considered basically like invasion/physical war.
            • rosndo 5y ago
              I’m not convinced that actually matters wrt North Korea. Besides, sanctions enforcement turns pretty active when you start prosecuting violators.
    • vkou 5y ago
      > The counter argument to that justification of sanctions is that financial interdependence also discourages war It discourages war because of the threat of being cut off. If you don't actually carry the threat out, it stops being an effective threat.