Economic Sanctions

Economic sanctions used for foreign policy purposes are economic penalties,
such as prohibiting trade, stopping financial transactions, or barring
economic and military assistance, used to achieve the goal of influencing
the target nation. Sanctions can be imposed selectively, stopping only
certain trade and financial transactions or aid programs, or
comprehensively, halting all economic relations with the target nation.
While sanctions can be imposed to serve multiple goals, the measures are
more successful in achieving the less ambitious and often unarticulated
goals of: (a) upholding international norms by punishing the target nation
for unacceptable behavior and (b) deterring future objectionable actions.
Sanctions are usually less successful in achieving the most prominently
stated goal of making the target country comply with the sanctioning
nation's stated wishes.