Like it or Not, Unilateral Sanctions Are Here to Stay

Abstract

Financial and economic sanctions are often adopted to serve multiple ends, including deterrence and prevention, but they are best understood as a tool to incentivize change in a target's behavior. In pursuit of this coercive objective, it is generally—but not always—the case that sanctions are more effective when they are imposed multilaterally, and the broader the coalition the better. This is because multilateral sanctions leverage the diverse sources of pressure that coalition partners can bring to bear on a target and carry with them the legitimacy of broad international support. Taken to its extreme, this argument may suggest that sanctions should always be multilateral, whether adopted through the United Nations, another forum, or an ad hoc coalition. But as we explain below, there are at least two significant reasons that militate in favor of unilateral sanctions. First, within the broad limits of international law, every country must retain the authority to impose sanctions to protect its sovereign security interests, even when it cannot muster a coalition of like-minded allies or a sufficient number of votes—and avoid a veto—on the UN Security Council. Second, imposing “smart” sanctions is actually a difficult business, requiring a complex administrative apparatus to design, build, implement, enforce, and defend them. International institutions, including the United Nations, are inherently less able to build the necessary structures to effectively enforce sanctions. For all of these reasons, two systems of sanctions—one national, one supranational—will likely coexist into the future.

The Proportionality and Necessity of Unilateral Sanctions

“…10 The overall objective is to ensure national security without either resorting to force or foregoing those objectives altogether. 11 In the US, sanctions programmes generally begin with the identification of a particular national security or foreign policy challenge. 12 The International Emergency Economic Powers Act establishes the authority to impose sanctions and delegates the authority to declare national emergencies and develop sanctions programs in response.…”

El Consejo de Seguridad de la Naciones Unidas, los regímenes de sanciones y la experiencia argentina

“…A su vez, existe un reconocimiento de que la efectiva implementación de sanciones requiere de la actividad de los Estados; las organizaciones internacionales carecen de los mecanismos para asegurarla (Cohen y Goldman, 2019). En efecto, la implementación de un régimen de sanciones involucra una ingente actividad administrativa y legislativa de múltiples agencias estatales, como también de los tribunales, en cuanto a cumplimiento de la ley, recolección de inteligencia y procesamientos penales.…”