The Role of Smart Sanctions in Achieving Foreign Policy Goals of the United States (a Study of the Role of Economic Sanctions)

Abstract

Sanctions are among the most important tools employed by foreign policies of countries since ancient times and developed from the development of international ,regional and internal conditions surrounding the decision-making process. They are multiple and varied aimed at forcing other countries either to comply with the will of countries imposing sanctions or at least to discourage them from undesirable behavior. However, for some time, it leads to bad and destructive effects on the humanitarian level for the people of the targeted countries, and it provokes clear international political opposition, which prompted countries to think in another way that specifically targets the political systems and tries to avoid inflicting direct harm on the people. This type of punishment is called smart penalties based on its distinction among political systems and the population. Although the application of these sanctions does not indicate that clear separation between the political system and the population on the ground, but it represents a more advanced step in the field of minimizing the damage that could be caused to the population while preserving the goal of imposing these sanctions.

Keywords: smart sanctions, economic sanctions, foreign policy, foreign policy goals.