Publication

This paper describes the US’ increasing use of coercive economic measures, such as sanctions, to tackle security issues as well as the challenges that arise from using such measures as political tools. These challenges stem for the changes these measures make in the structure of the international financial system, their overuse and the legal contests against them -- all factors which undermine their effectiveness. The authors also recommend principles for the US and its allies to follow that can help maintain the effectiveness of coercive economic measures, including the point that the goals that they seek to achieve should be clearly defined and that they should be integrated into broader strategic policies.