Project Details
Projekt
Sanctions Termination in Times of Crises: Unpacking the Role of External Shocks
Applicant
Dr. Julia Grauvogel
Subject Area
Political Science
Term
since 2017
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 389266222
This proposal seeks a renewal project for the DFG-funded research project ‘The Termination of International Sanctions: Causes, Processes and Domestic Consequences’. The original research project examined the causes, processes and consequences of ending international sanctions. Through the creation of a novel dataset on sanctions termination, in-depth statistical analyses and case studies, the project generated important insights into the previously under-researched topic of how and why international sanctions end and what the effects of ending sanctions are. The project team, inter alia, identified key determinants of two different ways of how sanctions end, namely sender capitulation and target compliance, and traced the gradual nature of termination processes. In addition, initial evidence suggests that sender states’ economic and humanitarian considerations affect termination processes. These calculations can be fundamentally altered by external shocks, as current debates about sanctions in times of the Covid-19 pandemic illustrate. Yet, we lack systematic theorizing and empirical analyses. Building on the findings of the original project, the renewal project thus aims to examine whether and how external shocks – which I define as events or developments exogenous to the issues that motivate sanctions’ imposition, but not necessarily originating from outside either the target or sender country – affect the termination of sanctions. In doing so, it asks two interrelated questions: Do sanctions senders (gradually) lift sanctions in response to external shocks? Or, do they turn to other foreign policy tools when external shocks make sanctions too costly or indefensible on humanitarian grounds? To address these questions, I am applying for additional funding (renewal project; funding for 1.5 years). I propose a nested research design consisting of a dataset extension, advanced large-N analyses and two case studies. The remainder of this section is divided into two parts: The first discusses the state of the art on sanctions and their termination in times of crises, referring also to findings from the original project. The second part summarizes research undertaken in the project so far, and the output achieved up until the end of 2020 – on which the renewal project will build.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
International Connection
Switzerland, USA
