David Cortright and George A. Lopez, with Richard W. Conroy, Jaleh Dashti-Gibson, and Julia Wagler
(Boulder, Co.: Lynne Rienner, 2000), 274 pages.

Since the end of the Cold War, economic sanctions have been a frequent instrument of U.N. authority, imposed by the Security Council against nearly a dozen targets. Some efforts appear to have been successful, others are more doubtful; all, though, have been controversial. This book, based on more than 200 interviews with officials from the United Nations and sanctioned countries and with other involved actors, provides the first comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of U.N. sanctions during the 1990s.

The authors develop a set of criteria for judging the full impact of sanctions: political, economic, and humanitarian; and then provide detailed studies of 11 cases: Iraq, Yugoslavia, Haiti, Libya, Sudan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Angola, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Liberia and Rwanda. They conclude with far-reaching recommendations for increasing the viability of sanctions as a productive diplomatic tool.

(Books may be ordered through Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1800 30th Street, Suite 314, Boulder, CO 80301, telephone 303-444-6684, fax 303-444-0824; URL www.rienner.com.)

(This work was produced in part through the generous financial contribution of the United States Institute of Peace. We gratefully acknowledge this support. The opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Institute of Peace.)

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