Sanctions effectiveness in a globalized world

Abstract

This study seeks to comprehend the utility of sanctions in theglobal era with the background that albeit the widely publicised negative resultant effects of sanctions, the usage of sanctions as a foreign policy tool continues to increase.This paper interrogates how globalisation and sanctions are persistently impacting on each other; howthe objectives of these two variables are diametrically opposed whereby the former seeks to unify states while the latter seeks to isolate actors. On one hand, globalization has rendered sanctions ineffective by giving the sanctioned states alternative trading partners. On the other hand, the global village renders it easy for sanctions to be inevitably applied as the inter-connectedness and inter-linkages allow for states to be vulnerable. This paper also critiques how economic powerhouses strategically extend support to sanctioned states and its effect on the effectiveness of sanctions. This article concludes that globalisation has rendered the impact of sanctions questionable and futile.