| Description |
In an age when the costs of military conflict can be alarmingly high, the United States has become more dependent upon the use of economic sanctions to achieve its foreign policy objectives. The increased popularity of economic sanctions for the United States has made it important to understand the changes in the international system that have brought this about. It has also become necessary for U.S. officials to understand which conditions best provide for successful sanctions in order for this foreign policy tool to be used effectively. To understand the reasons for the increased use of economic sanctions, this study begins with an overview of the changes in the international system that have made sanctions popular. This is followed by a discussion of power and interdependence which explores the nature of state relations in the international system. Particular attention is paid to the conditions under which interdependence becomes a power resource for one state to use against another. The primary focus of this discussion is on the importance of correctly appraising and exploiting a; target state's values. A power wielder must know whether the target desires or needs the goods or services that are part of the interdependent relationship, and whether the goods or services to be withheld are more important to the target than changing its behavior. Two case studies are considered: the Suez Canal crisis of 1956, and the Panama crisis of 1987-1989. These examples provide the empirical means to uncover the conditions for successful sanctions. The successful outcome of the Suez Canal crisis suggests that the United States understood and exploited British officials' values, whereas the failure of the Panama crisis shows that U.S. officials misperceived Noriega's values, thus leaving the United States unable to achieve its objectives. The project suggests that the most important condition for achieving successful economic sanctions is that the power wielder must correctly understand which goods or services a target values, and whether the target values those goods or services more than continuing the status quo. If this condition is met, the power wielder can use the desired goods or services as a power resource to successfully achieve its foreign policy objectives. |
