Sanction Dynamics in the Cases of North Korea, Iran, and Russia

The application of sanctions as a foreign policy tool has developed considerably, particularly over the last three decades, but their empirically verifiable effects remain contested. This report investigates the sanctions regimes imposed by the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations against Russia, Iran, and North Korea. While our understanding of how sanctions work, when they are employed and how effective they are in achieving their respective objectives has greatly improved due to decades of invaluable research, there are still open questions researchers have failed to adequately address this far. This report seeks to address some of these limitations in previous studies of sanctions by investigating the dynamic nature of individual sanctions measures, their multi-layered objectives as a foreign policy tool, their effects on the targeted economies and governments and how targeted states respond to them. Furthermore, it offers a rare comparative perspective. The report will seek to give a concise summary of the most important aspects and some key characteristics will be described that could improve the use of sanctions as a foreign policy tool.

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