Sanctions and Preventive War

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6284155
AutoresDaniel Mccormack (0000-0002-3485-6427, University of Pennsylvania, autor de correspondencia), Henry Pascoe (0000-0001-5221-2134, Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA)
Año2017
Volumen61
Número8
Páginas1711-1739
Fecha de publicación2017-09-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Conflict Resolution (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-0027 • E-ISSN: 1552-8766
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0022002715620471
OpenAlexW2341880704
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas20
Referencias citadas39

In this article, we demonstrate that through their use as tools of military containment, sanctions play an unappreciated role in international politics. We show that sanctions can be used to smooth shifts in relative power that would otherwise lead to preventive war. After presenting a model of shifting relative power and sanctions, we discuss two cases in which sanctions were imposed to destroy an adversary’s military capability. We also explore the implications of this argument for the evaluation of sanctions’ effectiveness. Because sanctions may be deployed as a mechanism to lock in the status quo rather than revise it, the outcome of a sanctions episode must be compared to its counterfactual rather than the status quo ante. Our argument suggests that sanctions may be effectively deployed in response to expected adverse shifts in relative power; therefore observed outcomes disadvantageous to the sanctioning state are insufficient proof that sanctions have failed

Adversary · Argument (complex analysis · Business · Computer security · Counterfactual thinking · Economic sanctions · Economics · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Public economics · Sanctions · Status quo · Computer Science · Economic Sanctions and International Relations · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Medicine · Psychology · Social Psychology · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence