Resolved: Economic sanctions ought not be used to achieve foreign policy objectives

As a first-timer to this site, I very much appreciate the help that this will give to my skills. I will begin with my opponent's case and then reinforce my own. My opponent says that morality is a direct link to the philosophy of consequentialism; however, he has not provided a link from the resolution to his view of morality. Though it may be simply semantics, I have shown how morality is not the sole link to the resolution, and so my opponent's value is incomplete. In addition, the philosophy of consequentialism is at fault- though we would not call an accidental and unforeseeable car crash that killed a child necessarily "immoral", the fact remains that it is still an undesirable outcome, and so my policy of a combined value of morality and fulfillment of purpose stand for the round. For his first contention, my opponent has said that sanctions "prevent mass violations of international law and human rights. " However, as I have earlier expressed, sanctions actually do more potential harm to the human rights of those they were originally designed to protect! In addition, my opponent has offered the example of Libya as a support to his case. However, this is a faulty example, as I will now show. Jeffrey Schott says, "Note, however, that in recent years the use of economic sanctions has increasingly become a "way station" to the use of military force. Ineffective sanctions have led to US military intervention in Panama, Haiti, Somalia, and Iraq (and the use of US air power against Libya and in the Balkans)—either to reinforce the US response or to forceably compel foreign governments to change their policies. " The ineffectuality of the sanctions led to an increased view of the sanctions as futile, and so the real solution used was the application of military force, and not, as my opponent claims, economic sanctions. Next, my opponent claims that sanctions prevent human rights violations when aimed against oppressive regimes. However, it is difficult to see how is able to come to this conclusion; the evidence that I have presented shows that in the vast majority of times, the oppressed citizens actually unite under their dictator, provided they have a common enemy, i. e. , the creator of the sanction. In addition, my opponent's example of Guatemala, there was no actual application of the sanctions, merely the threat. Simon Cox says, "One lesson of the scholarly literature is that by the time sanctions are imposed, they have probably already failed. If a country is ever going to fold, it will do so when sanctions are threatened, rather than waiting for the punishment actually to fall on its head. " My opponent's point in this case is to be dismissed in that the threat of an action is indubitably not the same as the application of such, and so his own example supports my case! A threat is defined as "an act of coercion wherein a negative consequence is proposed to elicit response. " The true purpose of any threat is obviously to attempt to force the opposing party to give in before the application of the punishments; continuing in that vein, the application and continued usage of such cause, I have in fact already expressed, the rallying of the inhabitants of the sanctioned country against the imposer. Additionally, such behavior could easily be simple example of threat posturing, which is "behavior that emphasizes one's aggressive potential. " Put simply, the threat of such an action is only a sign of how far the sender is willing to go, and not necessarily a direct cause of fear relating to the sanction itself. My opponent's second contention says that the possible risks of not using sanctions are higher than the risk taken when sanctions are put into use. However, as I will show, this is blatantly false. The usage of alternative routes is far less risky, with an additional bonus of a potentially higher payoff. For example, Leon T. Hadar says, referring to sanctions placed on Burma, says "As an alternative to the failed policy of sanctions, the United States should allow U. S. companies to freely trade with and invest in Burma. A pro-business approach would more effectively promote political, civil, and economic freedom around the world. " In addition, the usage of a diplomatic route would strengthen relations with the country in question, thus surpassing my opponent's maintaining that sanctions are the best route. In addition, as I have shown, sanctions are both inefficient and inhumane. I would like to point out to my opponent that he has provided no evidence that sanctions are not indeed exactly what I have shown them to be. A few examples of moderate success do not a winning case make. I would ask that my opponent supplies his own counter-evidence before standing by his own mistaken decisions. My opponent says that, "When faced with a determined enemy, there can be no alternative besides sanctioning them in order to preserve the security of the world. " However, this is only true up to a point. Sanctions will not work when used upon extremist nations such as former Nazi Germany or modern Afghanistan or Iran. In the case of religious or philosophical extremism, both economic and diplomatic solutions are futile, leaving only military solution. Though my opponent maintains that the cessation of trade during times of war is an example of sanctions, this definition is faulty. As I have earlier supplied, the definition of economic sanctions is "government mandated limitations and domestic penalties applied by one or more countries on customary trade or financial relations among nations. " Note that there is no mention of war in the definition, there is only the mention that sanctions are specifically used to achieve goals when used as penalties; cessation of trade during a military incursion is a necessity, and thus not an example of an intended sanction. Finally, my opponent says that sanctions actually minimize the impact upon innocents; however, this is a laughable concept. As I have shown, sanctions actually do more, potentially at least, harm upon civilians rather than diplomatic or militaristic solutions, the latter of which only provides regrettable collateral damage upon civilians, unlike sanctions which view such as the primary intent of persuasion. Next, the only additional damages visited upon civilians, whether economical or political, are simply the results of increased efforts of the administration in power. Because of the obvious proponents of such harm, any animosity felt by the people will usually fall on the target government itself. On to my opponent's rebuttal: My opponent says that my values are contradictory. However, he has failed in his interpretation of my values: my usage of the words benevolence and efficiency relate to the impact on a national and international basis. If a cruel dictator is assassinated, the overall benevolence is measured in the positive impact visited upon those previously oppressed by the despot. In addition, if, as my opponent has presumably supplied, the entire problem is solved by the assassination, then the overall efficiency is extremely high. Thus, my opponent has refuted his own objections. My opponent answers to my first contention that civilians are also killed in war; however, this is strictly collateral, while sanctions visit ruin to everyone in the country and not only those in war zones. To my second contention, my opponent says that sanctions were actually effective against Serbia; however, he does not dispute that the sanctions caused increased unity against the sender. His only contention is that sanctions were "effective", not, however, that they played a pivotal role. Finally, smart sanctions are indeed different than normal ones; they are specially aimed in order to minimize extra damages. Due to these reasons, the resolution must be affirmed in today's debate.