Economic sanctions are a powerful tool used by states to punish or coerce other countries. They can include embargoes, export restrictions, capital controls, and other measures that impose financial or trade costs. These can be aimed at specific nations, companies, or individuals. The goal is to limit or stop investment (and therefore, financial support) to sanctioned entities and thus make it more difficult for them to engage in illegal or problematic behavior.
Sanctions can be imposed for a wide variety of reasons, from the release of a political prisoner to overthrowing a dictatorship. They may also be aimed at reducing the threat of terrorist organizations by making sure they are not fully funded. The most common method of imposing these is by prohibiting countries around the world from trading with certain countries that condone or support terrorist activities.
While there are many different reasons to impose sanctions, the most important factor is whether the sanctions have the desired effect. Since the end of the Cold War, governments have increasingly relied on them to address a variety of problems, from threats to international security to egregious human rights violations and war crimes. Judging the effectiveness of these actions is complicated. Senders usually have multiple goals and targets in mind, and determining whether the type and scope of the chosen sanction succeeded requires sorting out these various effects. It is also often impossible to establish a causal relationship between the sanctions and their intended effect, as a host of other domestic and international factors could have played more prominent roles.