Construct equations, get results. But the leaders of target nations often refuse to act rationally, which means that the effects of sanctions are messy, unpredictable, and hard to analyze. And when sanctions do have a significant impact, it's often on the poorest and most vulnerable people in the target nation. The decision-making class seldom goes hungry or has to shiver through a harsh winter. Although sanctions have surely contributed to malnutrition in Iraq, one supposes that Saddam Hussein has never involuntarily missed a meal.
Sanctions are a mixed bag.
For every South Africa, there's an Iraq or Yugoslavia. But whatever the defects of sanctions are, using them is surely better than resorting to tanks and napalm. Beginning on page 14, our authors explore sanctions from a variety of angles. The articles were adapted and updated from papers presented at a conference held last spring by the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame and the Fourth Freedom Forum in Goshen, Indiana. P.O. Box 639, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556-0639.