Pariah States and Sanctions in the Middle East: Iraq, Libya, Sudan - Tapa blanda

"This is an excellent book, well-written and full of insight and wisdom. Niblock provides an informed, accurate assessment of the political economies of Iraq, Libya, and to a lesser degree, Sudan. Equally important, he presents a skillfully constructed and cogently argued assessment of the impact of sanctions on the governments and peoples of these countries." - Ronald Bruce St John, The Journal of Libyan Studies; "Tim Niblock's timely book is a welcome contribution to [the] debate, investigating the use of United Nations sanctions in the middle East and their very mixed results." - Toby Dodge, International Affairs

UN sanctions have become an increasingly popular weapon in the political armoury of the international community - a supposedly effective means, short of war, of bringing a transgressor state back in line. This book challenges this view in a dispassionate analysis of the political, economic and psychological impact of sanctions on the Middle East's ""pariah"" states. The author establishes two criteria for assessing the utility of sanctions: have they forced the countries concerned to stay within the framework of international law?; and how have they affected the development of those countries? He finds that, while sanctions have contained Iraq, Libya and Sudan in the short term, they have if anything strengthened the three regimes at home and at the same time increased social divisions and religious militancy. Contrary to intentions, he cogently argues, the net effect has been damage to the long-term prospects for stability and good governance in the Middle East and for a secure international order.