Given their comparatively low rate of success why are sanctions so frequently applied?

Abstract

Many scholars argue that the success rate of economic sanctions is quite low and as a foreign policy instrument, sanctions are ineffective. If economic sanctions do not work, why do politicians apply them so frequently? This essay claims that the answer lies in a different understanding of the term of «economic sanctions», its goals, its targets, and its effectiveness by scholars on the one hand and by practitioners on the other. This paper also claims that the criteria of assessing the success rate of economic sanctions should be reconsidered.