Why Sanctioning?

Abstract

The mainstream international relations scholarship on sanctions overwhelmingly concludes that if the success of sanctions is measured by the change of the target’s behavior, then sanctions do not work. But if sanctions “do not work,” why are they increasingly popular? This chapter seeks to answer this question with the help of interdisciplinary scholarship on punishment, with the goal of connecting the political science insights on sanctions with broader scholarship on punishment. The practice of sanctioning countries reflects three contributions of the punitive lens on international politics: It shows which norms are at the core of international order (and deserve to be protected by the punitive responses), it demonstrates structures of power and authority (and the right to sanctions), and it shows where the potential for cooperation is in international politics.