The Sanctions Theory: A Frail Paradigm for International Law?
Harvard International Law Journal Online, February 13, 2015
12 Pages Posted: 27 Mar 2015 Last revised: 2 Apr 2015
Date Written: January 27, 2015
Abstract
The Article argues that the theory of economic sanctions remains a vague and understudied paradigm, which has been based on shallow grounds. The social sciences’ academic debate has obsessively concentrated on the question of whether sanctions work or yield the desired results. International law scholarship for a long time limited itself with the standards applicable to the imposition of sanctions. However, recently, a new move endeavors to reformulate the entire field of international law based of the theory of sanctions. The new scholarship aims to argue that the imposition of economic sanctions should act as a long-missing element in international law, which was enforcement, a remedy that is far more humane and accessible than use of brute force. Yet, the Article shows that the sanction theory is premised on inconsistent theoretical and normative grounds. Reformulating international law based on the sanctions paradigm would create further theoretical, as well as practical, challenges for this discipline instead of resolving them.
Keywords: Sanctions, International Law Theory, International Relations
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