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Economic Sanctions and International Terrorism

NCJ Number
110647
Journal
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law Volume: 20 Issue: 2 Dated: (March 1987) Pages: 289-328
Author(s)
K W Abbott
Date Published
1987
Length
40 pages
Annotation
This article presents a framework for analyzing economic antiterrorism sanctions and then uses the framework to discuss several sanctions currently used by the United States.
Abstract
The author defines the elements of his analytic framework by describing the varying forms or levels of state involvement in terrorism. Three levels of support are outlined: no significant state involvement, state 'support' of terrorists, and state 'sponsorship' of terrorists. The author then discusses the appropriateness of employing sanctions against the three forms of state involvement and describes four principal rationales for the use of economic sanctions. The four rationales are (1) economic warfare, (2) imposition of costs, (3) denial of means, and (4) symbolic communication. The author then relates the application of the four sanctions rationales to state involvement in terrorism and illustrates their application with examples of sanctions employed by the U.S. Government. He concludes that economic sanctions can play a valuable role in a nation's strategies against international terrorism. However, the effects of economic sanctions are often small while their costs and risks are high and economic sanctions are no cure for international terrorism. 3 figures and 222 footnotes.