Sanctions are mostly economic but could also be military or political penalties that are introduced to change military and/or political behavior. They are used by the government of the United States to discourage the production of weapons used for mass destruction, end terrorism, strengthen human rights, prevent drug trafficking, protect the environment, replace governments, discourage armed aggression, and promote access to markets. The government is increasingly using economic sanctions to promote its foreign policy objectives. However, sanctions most often than not turn out to me slightly more than on-the-surface expressions of U.S. preferences and they end up causing hurt on the America economic interests without having any positive impact on the target’s behaviour.
Sanctions are expected to be less unilateral, and more focus should be placed on the problem at hand. If at all sanctions are to be effective, then Congress and the Executive Branch will be required to implement thorough oversight of the sanctions, both before adopting them and on a regular basis thereafter. By so doing, it will be possible to ensure more benefits compared to costs and also make it possible for the sanctions to achieve beyond the alternative foreign policy tools. Besides these policies, sanctions have currently not had as much impact as the imposers would have expected them to.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
It is paradoxical of the present-day American foreign policy to note that the use of sanctions is widespread, yet they are often criticized and derided. Maybe this is because, while sanctions do not work, they are still an important political tool for the American government. Economic sanctions are increasingly being using by the American government as the policy tool of choice during the post-cold war era (Marcus, 2010) . The government of the United States bow imposes economic sanctions against a number of countries. In fact, sanctions have become popular to the extent that they have been introduced to several municipalities and states. Moreover, what is critical is not only the increasing frequency of the usage of economic sanctions, but also their increasing importance in the United States foreign policy.
When it comes to the accomplishment of foreign policy ends, sanctions tend to be very diverse. They usually take the form of foreign assistance cut-offs and reductions, asset freezes, export and import limitations, arms embargoes, tariff increases, negative votes in the international financial institutions, visa denials, revocation of the most favoured nation (MFN), prohibitions on investment, credit, and financing, and/or cancellation of air links. This popularity is explained by the fact that sanctions tend to offer a proportionate response to a challenge where the interests that are at stake are less than the vital figure. Also, sanctions provide a way to indicate an official disapproval of a certain behavior (Haass, 2008) . They can be used to reinforce a commitment of the participants to the behavioral norm, for instance opposition to proliferation or respect for human rights. The reluctance of the American government to use military force also serves as another motivation for the use of sanctions. Another explanation could be the greater reach of the media. The CNN effect increases the visibility of the issues in another country, stimulating the desire for some Americans to respond
Sanctions, whichever form they take, offer a less expensive and visible alternative to doing nothing and to military intervention. That said, sanctions still come to play when it comes to the U.S. politics, despite the fact that they do not necessarily work. The government uses sanctions as a quick response to situations that demand military action.
References
Haass, R. (2008). Economic Sanctions: Too Much of a Bad Thing. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/research/economic-sanctions-too-much-of-a-bad-thing/
Marcus, J. (2010). Analysis: Do economic sanctions work? Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-10742109
