Economic Sanctions as a Course of Action to the Geographic Combatant Commander

Abstract

The widespread use of economic sanctions constitutes a paradox. Sanctions are frequently criticized. At the same time, they have fast become the policy tool of choice for the United States. There has been a dramatic increase in our application of this tool. The United States has applied sanctions a total of 115 times since World War 1, 107 times since World War II, and 67 times since 1993. About 75 of the world's nearly 200 countries are currently subject to U.S. sanctions. In contrast, the United Nations currently enforces sanctions against fewer than a dozen countries. Sanctions are popular because they offer a proportional response to a challenge in which U.S. interests are not deemed sufficiently important to justify casualties and high costs. Sanctions provide a visible and less expensive alternative between military intervention and doing nothing. This paper will discuss how this tool can be most appropriately and effectivejy shaped as a course of action proposed by a geographic combatant commander for approval by the national command authorities.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 05, 2001
Accession Number
ADA389619

Entities

People

  • Joseph R. Pearl

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Cyber
  • Human Systems
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Cold War
  • Combatant Commanders
  • Commerce
  • Congress
  • Economic Sanctions
  • Electronic Commerce
  • Foreign Policy
  • Globalization
  • Governments
  • Information Warfare
  • Interagency Coordination
  • International Law
  • International Security
  • Law
  • Military Operations
  • United States
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Irregular Warfare and Special Operations Cyberspace Operations against Adversarial Threats.
  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation and International Security
  • Systems Analysis and Design