Sanctions and Democracy

How do economic sanctions affect democratization, and should the former be used to promote the latter? Imposing economic pain on large swaths of an already vulnerable population in order to nudge democratic change poses thorny issues. Does it work, in terms of securing democratic outcomes? Even if it did, is this way of achieving change justifiable? We explore the connections between the normative and positive sides of the argument for sanctions in light of theoretical and normative progress in two decades of post-Cold War research on democracy. We argue that some sanctions policies, used under specific conditions are more, and others - less, justifiable than others. (co-written with Shmuel Nili, Yale University)

Nikolay Marinov is an Assistant Professor for Empirical Democracy Research at the Department of Social Science, University of Mannheim. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor at Yale University (2005-2013) and a Visiting Fellow at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA). His research in international relations focuses on how the international community affects democratization. He has looked at why coup leaders hold elections; at sanctions and the fate of leaders; at the role of aid in liberalization; at whether "electing friends" – states siding with the candidates running for office in other countries – works.

Lectures are open for all interested GIGA colleagues.