ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes in which circumstances and in what manner economic sanctions might be deployed in pursuit of foreign policy objectives in the Middle East. As such, the scope of analysis extends beyond the countries of the region to the major powers with substantial political, economic, and security interests in the region. Conventional wisdom asserts that sanctions "never work," that they mask a lack of resolve to deal with problems, and that they inevitably result in the practitioner "shooting himself in the foot." The conspicuous failures of recent episodes involving the US grain embargo against the Soviet Union and sanctions against the construction of the Soviet-European gas pipeline have reinforced this view. The experience with economic sanctions in the Middle East context follows closely the pattern in the total pool of cases. Sanctions episodes involving Mideast countries accounted for almost 10 percent of all the cases documented.
