Again, in the mid-1930s, when Italy invaded Ethiopia, sanction were imposed by the League of Nations, but collapsed within a few months. In the post-World War II period, sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa were for long ineffective because the big investors refused to take them seriously. More recently, sanctions did not work against Serbia, which changed its aggressive policy in Bosnia only after the US used military force against it. The fact is that the international system is one in which there is no sovereign regulatory authority. Not that nothing ever gets done.
States do cooperate a great deal, as for instance in framing the rules of trade.
But where there is a conflict between self-interest and collective interest, the former invariably takes precedence. From this standpoint, the breakdown of sanctions is in many cases predictable. Following the awakening of the Indian giant, the failure of sanctions against it was inevitable. All rights reserved. See disclaimer and privacy policy.