CDZ Do Sanctions Actually Work?

[320 Years of History]

Clearly there are participants in this discussion who think economic sanctions penalties for violating them are enacted to inspire action by a sanctioned nation or action by the citizens of the sanctioned nation and will or should be levied against those nations. That is not at all the point nor is the sanctioned nation the sufferer of the penalties. The point is to create an environment whereby traders -- buyers and sellers -- who are not part of the sanctioned nation are dissuaded from trading with that nation. The entities/persons penalized for violating the sanctions will be the people not affiliated with the sanctioned nation who violate the sanction.

• Economic sanctions deny sanctioned nations some or all of the benefits of trade. That is the reason nations don't want to be sanctioned. If those nations determine they can exist absent trade with the sanctioners, there is no reason for them to care about the sanction.
• Economic sanctions dissuade businesses and individuals from buying and selling goods/services with others in the sanctioned nation by making it "expensive" for them to do so.

Obviously folks who don't understand the actual benefits of and nature of trade won't understand that.