Economics sanctions come with risks - by David Adams
It's a blunt tool that has been around for centuries: the economic embargo. The latest target is North Korea in the wake of its suspected underground testing of a nuclear device. A day after the U.N. Security Council approved stringent sanctions against North Korea on everything from luxury goods to military technology, it's worth asking: Just how effective is this diplomatic cudgel?
Abundant literature and comparative studies on past embargoes - from the "Continental Blockade" against Britain by French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte to more contemporary sanctions against South Africa, Libya, and Cuba - have taught certain clear lessons, say experts. "You can get countries to modify certain aspects of their behavior, but you can't get them to change their fundamental policy goals," said Dan Erikson, senior associate for U.S. policy at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, D.C., a forum on foreign policy analysis in this hemisphere.
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