PapersFlow Research Brief
Economic Sanctions and International Relations
Research Guide
What is Economic Sanctions and International Relations?
Economic sanctions in international relations are coercive economic measures imposed by one or more countries on a targeted state to influence its behavior, often affecting trade, finance, and human rights while examining their effectiveness in coercive diplomacy.
This field includes 30,806 works analyzing the effects of international economic sanctions on targeted countries' trade, health, human rights, and political economy. Research covers targeted sanctions, their impact on authoritarian regimes, and unintended consequences for global trade. Studies question sanction effectiveness, with historical cases like Rhodesia providing early empirical insights.
Topic Hierarchy
Research Sub-Topics
Effectiveness of Targeted Economic Sanctions
This sub-topic evaluates the success rates of smart sanctions targeting elites, financial sectors, and specific industries in achieving policy change. Researchers analyze compliance, evasion tactics, and comparative case studies using quantitative metrics.
Economic Sanctions and Human Rights Outcomes
This sub-topic investigates sanctions' effects on civilian welfare, including food security, healthcare access, and mortality rates in targeted populations. Researchers employ econometric models and humanitarian impact assessments across regimes.
Coercive Diplomacy Through Economic Sanctions
This sub-topic examines sanctions as tools of coercive diplomacy to compel behavioral change in nuclear proliferation, aggression, and human rights abuses. Researchers study signaling, credibility, and combinations with threats or incentives.
Political Economy of Sanctions on Authoritarian Regimes
This sub-topic analyzes how sanctions affect elite cohesion, rent distribution, and regime stability in autocracies. Researchers model selectorate theory applications and authoritarian resilience mechanisms.
Unintended Consequences of International Sanctions
This sub-topic explores backlash effects like radicalization, smuggling economies, and third-party windfalls from sanctions circumvention. Researchers track long-term geopolitical ripple effects and adaptation strategies.
Why It Matters
Economic sanctions shape global trade and political outcomes, as seen in Galtung (1967) who analyzed sanctions against Rhodesia and found they strengthened the target regime's resolve while harming weaker segments of society. Pape (1997) reviewed 40 cases from 1914-1990 and concluded sanctions succeeded in only 5% of military objectives and 34% of modest goals, highlighting limited coercive power. Recent works like Caldara and Iacoviello (2022) link higher geopolitical risk from events including sanctions to reduced investment and employment, while Ben Hassen and El Bilali (2022) detail how Russia-Ukraine war sanctions disrupted global food security, exacerbating crises in import-dependent nations.
Reading Guide
Where to Start
"Why Economic Sanctions Do Not Work" by Robert A. Pape (1997) provides an accessible empirical review of 40 historical cases, establishing baseline effectiveness rates suitable for newcomers.
Key Papers Explained
Pape (1997) sets the foundation by arguing sanctions rarely succeed alone, which Galtung (1967) complements with Rhodesia case analysis showing societal divisions. Caldara and Iacoviello (2022) extends this to modern contexts via the GPR index linking risks to economic downturns. Davenport (1995) connects sanctions to state repression logics, while Ben Hassen and El Bilali (2022) applies findings to Russia-Ukraine war food security impacts.
Paper Timeline
Most-cited paper highlighted in red. Papers ordered chronologically.
Advanced Directions
Recent papers like Ben Hassen and El Bilali (2022) and Boungou and Yatié (2022) examine Russia-Ukraine sanctions' global ripples, focusing on food systems and stock markets. No preprints or news from the last six to twelve months available, indicating a gap in real-time analysis.
Papers at a Glance
| # | Paper | Year | Venue | Citations | Open Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Measuring Geopolitical Risk | 2022 | American Economic Review | 2.7K | ✕ |
| 2 | The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism | 2003 | American Political Sci... | 1.3K | ✕ |
| 3 | Economic sanctions reconsidered | 2008 | Choice Reviews Online | 868 | ✕ |
| 4 | Why Economic Sanctions Do Not Work | 1997 | International Security | 826 | ✕ |
| 5 | Impacts of the Russia-Ukraine War on Global Food Security: Tow... | 2022 | Foods | 657 | ✓ |
| 6 | On the Effects of International Economic Sanctions, With Examp... | 1967 | World Politics | 626 | ✕ |
| 7 | Multi-Dimensional Threat Perception and State Repression: An I... | 1995 | American Journal of Po... | 625 | ✕ |
| 8 | Advances in Cryptology – EUROCRYPT 2022 | 2022 | Lecture notes in compu... | 607 | ✕ |
| 9 | The impact of the Ukraine–Russia war on world stock market ret... | 2022 | Economics Letters | 502 | ✓ |
| 10 | Sanctions and Social Deviance: The Question of Deterrence. | 1981 | Contemporary Sociology... | 488 | ✕ |
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the historical effectiveness of economic sanctions?
Pape (1997) analyzed sanctions cases from 1914 to 1990 and found they achieved policy goals in only 5% of military objectives and 34% of modest political aims. Success rates improve slightly with credible military threats but remain low overall. Targeted sanctions show mixed results compared to comprehensive ones.
How do economic sanctions impact targeted societies?
Galtung (1967) examined sanctions on Rhodesia and observed they disproportionately burden vulnerable groups while reinforcing the target regime's cohesion. Sanctions can lead to social deviance rather than compliance, as explored in Saltzman and Tittle (1981). Health and human rights deteriorate in prolonged cases.
What role does geopolitical risk play in sanctions?
Caldara and Iacoviello (2022) developed a GPR index showing spikes during crises like world wars and 9/11, where higher risk from sanctions foreshadows lower investment and employment. Sanctions amplify global economic uncertainty. This measure tracks adverse events tied to coercive diplomacy.
Why do states apply negative sanctions like repression?
Davenport (1995) found state repression, including sanctions, responds to multi-dimensional threat perceptions beyond single dissent indicators. Regimes use negative sanctions when perceiving broad threats to stability. This links domestic repression to international coercive strategies.
How have recent conflicts affected sanctions research?
Ben Hassen and El Bilali (2022) assessed Russia-Ukraine war sanctions' role in global food insecurity, warning of deepened crises for import-reliant countries. Boungou and Yatié (2022) measured negative impacts on world stock returns. These cases highlight sanctions' broader trade disruptions.
Open Research Questions
- ? Under what conditions do targeted sanctions outperform comprehensive ones in changing regime behavior?
- ? How do sanctions interact with military threats to improve coercive diplomacy success rates?
- ? What are the long-term health and human rights costs of sanctions on civilian populations?
- ? Why do sanctions sometimes strengthen authoritarian regimes rather than weaken them?
- ? How can geopolitical risk indices better predict sanction outcomes in global trade?
Recent Trends
The field spans 30,806 works with high citation counts for foundational critiques like Pape at 826 citations and Galtung (1967) at 626, but growth rate data unavailable.
1997Recent 2022 papers such as Caldara and Iacoviello with 2683 citations introduce GPR indices amid geopolitical tensions, while Ben Hassen and El Bilali (2022) at 657 citations ties sanctions to food security crises from the Russia-Ukraine war.
2022Research Economic Sanctions and International Relations with AI
PapersFlow provides specialized AI tools for Economics, Econometrics and Finance researchers. Here are the most relevant for this topic:
AI Literature Review
Automate paper discovery and synthesis across 474M+ papers
Systematic Review
AI-powered evidence synthesis with documented search strategies
Deep Research Reports
Multi-source evidence synthesis with counter-evidence
See how researchers in Economics & Business use PapersFlow
Field-specific workflows, example queries, and use cases.
Start Researching Economic Sanctions and International Relations with AI
Search 474M+ papers, run AI-powered literature reviews, and write with integrated citations — all in one workspace.
See how PapersFlow works for Economics, Econometrics and Finance researchers