Discourse of multilateral economic sanctions. (c2007)

Abstract

Realizing and actualizing a comprehensive research study on economic sanction's social and economic effects in addition to finding the methods and means to mitigate those effects, certainly required a complicated but rewarding research journey. This journey first began through conducting a detailed literature review covering a cumbersome, controversial and vast literature on economic and international sanctions. A literature ranging from a pure theoretical perspective inspired by philosophy, ethics, economic modeling and political science, to a practical side that spanned different case studies of actual economic sanctions incidents accompanied with data to prove it; A literature ranging from anti sanctions writings that highlights the devastating humanitarian crisis caused by it to pro sanctions writings that deem it to be an effective foreign policy tool tipping the balance of diplomacy and peace over war and bloodshed. However, this preliminary research resulted in a very interesting and important finding that came to be the focal point of this thesis. Existing literature failed to address the humanitarian aspect of sanctions from the point of view of the ordinary citizen. Although the world acknowledged the negative impacts of sanctions it miserably failed to mitigate it and address the needs of those suffering. This research acknowledges the existence of commendable attempts by the United Nations and the international society to heal the wounds of innocent people but unfortunately so far none of those attempts had real and significant effect. After identifying the problem, the next steps were to recognize its cause, and symptoms. Thus the next chapter was dedicated to the close study of the role of International law and its relation to economic sanctions in light of human rights and humanitarian law. The result of which was a better understanding of the controversy behind sanctions and the fountain of the negativity it produces. Economic sanctions are positioned in a shady area of international law, deemed by it as the lesser of a necessary evil to correct an illegality. Its linkage to human rights is even vaguer and the cause of a bottomless conundrum within international law itself. As for the quest to find its symptoms, the most applicable and suitable method was to adopt the case study approach, which enrich this study with real sense and magnitude of actual effects of sanctions. Rather than looking at one case study, and to allow room for differentiation, varying circumstances, level of economic growth of the targeted, extent of its endowment with resource and the type of economic sanctions imposed, two case studies were mentioned and reviewed in great detail to cover all these attributes. Iraq and Yugoslavia were the real witnesses to the horror of economic sanctions when implemented without any proper protective shield. Although the extent of the impact of sanctions varied between the cases, the symptoms were the same; poverty, corruption, criminality, dehumanization, are but few of the common negative traits of economic sanctions. Indeed these cases were windows to the shortcoming of many variables such as humanitarian assistance of international organizations, structure and process of sanctions design and implementation, weak voice of national & international civil society and the failure of the government to play its role. They also exposed the lack of utilization of many other factors such as Technology, and the Media.