The Art of Sanctions - (Center on Global Energy Policy) by Richard Nephew (Paperback)

About the Book

The Art of Sanctions offers a practical framework for planning and applying sanctions based on two critical factors: pain and resolve. Focusing on lessons learned from sanctions on Iran and Iraq, Richard Nephew provides policymakers with practical guidance on how to measure and respond to pain and resolve to achieve successful sanctions regimes.

Book Synopsis

Nations and international organizations are increasingly using sanctions as a means to achieve their foreign policy aims. However, sanctions are ineffective if they are executed without a clear strategy responsive to the nature and changing behavior of the target. In The Art of Sanctions, Richard Nephew offers a much-needed practical framework for planning and applying sanctions that focuses not just on the initial sanctions strategy but also, crucially, on how to calibrate along the way and how to decide when sanctions have achieved maximum effectiveness.

Nephew--a leader in the design and implementation of sanctions on Iran--develops guidelines for interpreting targets' responses to sanctions based on two critical factors: pain and resolve. The efficacy of sanctions lies in the application of pain against a target, but targets may have significant resolve to resist, tolerate, or overcome this pain. Understanding the interplay of pain and resolve is central to using sanctions both successfully and humanely. With attention to these two key variables, and to how they change over the course of a sanctions regime, policy makers can pinpoint when diplomatic intervention is likely to succeed or when escalation is necessary. Focusing on lessons learned from sanctions on both Iran and Iraq, Nephew provides policymakers with practical guidance on how to measure and respond to pain and resolve in the service of strong and successful sanctions regimes.

Review Quotes

As Richard Nephew points out in this highly readable book, the use of economic sanctions to affect the behavior of others internationally has been around for a long time. Precisely because he has been a practitioner in the application of sanctions, his insights and conclusions are thoughtful and should inform policy makers. Experts as well as the interested public will learn a great deal from this book.--Dennis Ross, former special assistant to President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton, and counselor, Washington Institute for Near East Policy

Drawing on his firsthand experience as a senior U.S. policymaker and negotiator, Nephew provides an essential user's guide to the development and implementation of sanctions, an increasingly vital tool of U.S. statecraft. A must-read for officials and outside experts dealing with North Korea, Iran, Russia, and other pressing national security challenges.--Robert Einhorn, former senior advisor for nonproliferation and arms control at the U.S. State Department and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution

Nephew draws on his experiences at the U.S. Department of State as deputy coordinator for sanctions policy to provide anecdotes about the U.S. experience applying sanctions on Iran and Iraq, which help illustrate his framework and make for an entertaining read.-- "Arms Control Today"

Richard Nephew's excellent book provides a basic framework for effectively employing sanctions. It makes a very important contribution to our understanding of how to use these tools--particularly from a practitioner's perspective.--Eric B. Lorber, Financial Integrity Network

Sanctions have become a hot policy tool and Richard Nephew--a key sanctions policy practitioner during the Obama administration--has written a masterful insider's how-to guide. Those dealing with or worried about North Korea, Russia, or Iran would do well to learn lessons from The Art of Sanctions.--Daniel Fried, former U.S. State Department coordinator for sanctions policy, and distinguished fellow, Atlantic Council

About the Author

Richard Nephew is the U.S. State Department coordinator on global anti-corruption. He has been a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. Nephew was the lead sanctions expert for the U.S. team negotiating with Iran from August 2013 to December 2014. He has also served as director for Iran on the National Security Council at the White House and as deputy coordinator for sanctions policy and deputy special envoy for Iran at the State Department.