Global sanctions are increasingly used as a tool of coercive intervention. While this form of intervention lacks the overt brutality of war, it can cause severe pain and suffering to people not responsible for the policies that provoked them. Comprehensive sanctions, such as the League of Nations’ ban on Italian exports during the early 1930s, lowered Italian industrial production by over two-thirds before returning to pre-sanctions levels. This led to a rise in international prices for foodstuffs, raw materials and manufactured goods. These costs are not limited to the targeted country but extend to the sanctioners’ economies as well, which can lead to financial crises and unemployment.
Sanctions, moreover, can have a profound effect on contentious politics by increasing the state’s dependence on specific interest groups. For example, after the imposition of sanctions against South Africa, labor protests grew, leading to the formation of “movements” like Woman, Life, Freedom (WLF) that combined street mobilizations with more formal bargaining to put pressure on the state.
A better understanding of the effects of sanctions requires more than just a utilitarian, game-theoretic view. It also needs to include the study of humanities, culture and the political economy of ideas. This is why it is so important to look at sanctions through a broader lens and to use the tools of history to investigate their deep, lasting impact.
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