edited by S. C. M. Paine and Anand Toprani
University of Michigan Press, 2026
Cloth: 978-0-472-07823-3
Paper: 978-0-472-05823-5
eISBN: 978-0-472-90603-1 (OA)
In recent decades, sanctions have become the preferred tool for the nonviolent coercion of other nations. The US government employs sanctions and embargoes to pressure not only enemies but sometimes even its friends. Despite their ubiquity, the debate over their efficacy continues. Measuring their success is controversial since many sanctions are economic, while the desired outcomes are political. Under what circumstances can sanctions or embargoes deliver their intended policy objectives at an acceptable cost? How can they best be integrated with other available instruments of national power?
The Strategy of Sanctions uses case studies from antiquity to the present to evaluate the strategic utility of sanctions and embargoes. The authors utilize a blended approach combining earlier definitions of sanctions, concepts from teaching of strategy, as well as terms of their own creation. They apply a common framework for teaching strategy, which disaggregates operational-level from strategic-level goals, and goals from strategies. By examining sanctions in different eras and contexts, the book highlights the circumstances that are most conducive to their efficacy.
S. C. M. Paine is Professor Emerita of History and Grand Strategy at the U.S. Naval War College.
Anand Toprani is Professor of Strategy & Policy at the U.S. Naval War College.
“The Strategy of Sanctions is an important and timely book: it poses a question that has become increasingly significant in the past half decade. Can nonviolent economic pressure suffice to discipline, or even deter, aggressive regimes?”
— Andrew Lambert, King’s College“The Strategy of Sanctions fills in an important gap in the sanctions literature. It provides a much-needed historical assessment of major sanctions cases. It nicely complements and adds to the current sanctions literature dominated by quantitative studies.”
— Dursun Peksen, University of Memphis“This impressive collection is based on superb scholarship. Paine and Toprani have done their readers a double favor. Readers will be grateful for the many fascinating case studies in the use of sanctions, which are well selected and surprisingly varied. Readers will be grateful again for the carefully distilled and sensible lessons, which everyone should learn.”
— Mark Harrison, University of WarwickLicense: CC BY-NC
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