Economic Sanctions: Why They Work, Fail, and Sometimes Backfire (Episode 13)

For 2,500 years, rulers have tried to defeat their enemies without firing a shot.

From Athens sanctioning Megara, to Napoleon trying to strangle British trade, to Britain’s blockade of Germany, the League of Nations confronting Mussolini, America’s oil embargo on Japan, apartheid South Africa, Iraq, and today’s sanctions on Russia, economic warfare has repeatedly promised a cleaner alternative to military conflict.

But history shows something much messier.

Sanctions can work. They can fail. They can hurt civilians more than governments. They can create black markets and smuggling networks. And sometimes, as in Japan in 1941, they can push a country toward escalation rather than compromise.

In this episode of The Roger Retrospective, Roger Horn looks at the long, strange history of economic warfare and asks a deceptively simple question:

Can you really defeat a country without firing a shot?