How effective are economic sanctions?

March 28, 2014 9:00 AM

Women and a boy with a toy Kalashnikov rifle walk past an unfinished wall painting depicting a map of Crimean peninsula and a slogan reading: "Together Forever" in Moscow, on March 24, 2014. Ukraine's acting president announced today that the ex-Soviet nation's troops have been given orders to withdraw from Crimea following the peninsula's seizure and annexation by Russia.
ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images

The US and Europe levied economic sanctions against Russia this month after President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea.

"In a study released Wednesday, the [World Bank] said no matter how the Crimean conflict ends, the Russian economy will do worse than expected this year because of the dispute," reported The Globe and Mail. "And it said the long-term consequences of a prolonged power struggle with the West could do even more damage because it will divert attention from badly-needed reforms."

But Russia isn't the only country facing US sanctions. There are also current sanctions against Cuba, North Korea, Syria, Iran, Burma, Libya and Sudan, among others.

What does the US hope to achieve with these sanctions? Are they effective? On The Daily Circuit, we get two perspectives on the use of economic sanctions as statecraft.

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