ABSTRACT
International economic sanctions have become a contemporary day-to-day practice, but they are nothing new. Finding its roots in very ancient times, the recourse to this practice has been regular throughout the ages. Before the First World War, examples range from the 432 B.C Decree of Pericles to the Chinese boycotts against the USA and Japan of the early 20th century. During the two World Wars, Trading with the Enemy Acts and other acts of the same kind proved efficient as tools of economic warfare. The UN itself elected economic sanctions as a tool to be used by the Security Council under Chapter 7 of the Charter, which it did abundantly since the 1990’s, in the form of “smart sanctions” since the end of this decade. Unilateral economic sanctions, adopted outside of the UN, are also more and more frequent since the end of the Second World War. Their consistency with international law is still an open question.
