Action and Reaction: Effects of Country-based Trade Sanctions

Trade sanctions consist of export restrictions and embargoes, or import or customs restrictions, and boycotts. Such measures, which can be adopted at the international, regional or national level, are economic tools for achieving foreign policy objectives. The effects that they produce are several, and they cover the political, economic and social spheres. This article analyzes the possible consequences of trade sanctions, in particular embargoes addressing targeted states, in order to evaluate their effectiveness. Two case studies of sanctions, the Iranian and the Russian case, are presented.