An assessment of the effectiveness of sanction as a tool for diplomatic deterrence

Abstract

The use of sanctions as tool for deterrence has witnessed exponential growth in recent times. The last three decades in particular has witnessed a surge in the number of sanctions used as medium in responding to numerous international confrontations. Interestingly, these sanctions have been both multilateral and unilateral in form and have mostly been evoked by NATO forces, the United States and the United Nations. The watershed references of South Africa, North Korea, Venezuela and most recently Russia comes to mind as countries afflicted by sanctions. The increasing demand by academics and the diplomatic community to interrogate sanction as a last resort of diplomatic uproar and its overall effectiveness as a diplomatic tool for deterrence is the main aim of the paper. The methodology utilized includes, content analysis and case study. The paper finds that conventional or traditional sanctions are not necessarily effective. This has been made even so, considering the bi-multipolar structure of the international system and trends in the unfolding world order, drawing insights from the case of recent unilateral sanctions from NATO forces against Russia. The paper recommends amongst other things, the need to refine sanctions to be smart enough for efficiency and to seek alternatives in the face of diplomatic uproar.