When Iraq became troublesome on the international scene in the 1990s,
other countries moved to imposed economic sanctions on it. In this age
of globalization, one of the perceived best ways to punish a country
and get it to change its policies is to impose economic sanctions on
it. That step hurts the ability of the sanctioned country to obtain
needed materials and/or resources from abroad. In Iraq’s case, as a
leading exporter of oil, not being able to trade as freely as it had in
the past, the country’s economy and its people were severely damaged.In
this book Simons examines the theoretical rationale for imposing
sanctions. Along with a consideration of the theoretical framework
undergirding sanctions, he provides readers with historical examples of
the effects of the imposition of such sanctions. Based on his review of
the evidence, he concludes that sanctions do not produce intended
results. In particular, he focuses attention on how harmful they often
are to the mass of the people in a country under sanctions.The
last chapter of the book looks in detail at the Iraqi situation.
Reviewing it in detail, he calls into question the role of the United
States in arguing in favor of placing sanctions on Iraq. He goes so far
as to maintain that they representation a violation of UN conventions
and declarations aimed at assuring the well-being of people around the
world.