Ethical dilemma of economic sanctions as an external threat

Abstract

The article aims to identify the current approaches that enable to resolve the ethical dilemma of economic sanctions, treated as a contradiction between the goals and consequences of imposing sanctions as an alternative to war and an instrument of an external threat. We consider the standard definition of economic sanctions as restrictions imposed by sender state, associated with worsening of current economic conditions in target country, aimed to force the ruling regime of the latter to change its domestic political course and/or foreign policy. The research methods include general scientific methods, comparative historical analysis and cross-country comparative analysis; elements of political and legal analysis; systematic literature review. The moral permissibility of sanctions had been reflected in the ethical dilemma of economic sanctions: the choice of sanctions as an alternative to war and an instrument of an external threat that has a potential positive impact on the policy of target country, and potential negative humanitarian consequences for the civilian population that can offset the positive results that the sender associates with a change in target country’s policy. The new paradigm in sanctions policy based on the replacement of comprehensive sanctions with targeted ones can be considered as an attempt to resolve such dilemma. We analyze the main background of this new model. We determine that the analysis of sanctions’ compliance with just war principles is essential in arguing their moral and ethical permissibility. In addition, we classify main approaches studying the moral permissibility of economic sanctions within the framework of just war theory. As a conclusion, we reveal that the application of just war principles as such to assess the moral permissibility of economic sanctions is debatable, and further research should be focused on choice and use of methodological tools that are more appropriate to the economic nature of sanctions.