Revisiting the Causal Links between Sanctions and Human Rights Violations

• In Event: State Repression and Human Rights II

Abstract

How do economic sanctions lead to human rights deterioration in target states? Prior research arguably reaches a consensus that sanctions are negatively associated with government respect for human rights (Peksen 2009; Wood 2008). However, the causal mechanisms running from sanctions to human rights corrosions are still unclear. Several potential mediators—such as unemployment, inflation, declining economic growth, economic isolation, and protests—remain untested. By using causal mediation analysis, we examine the mediating roles of economic conditions and political protests in the relationship between sanctions and human rights. We further identify separate mechanisms of sanction threats from the mechanisms concerning sanction impositions. We expect that threatened sanctions will raise anti-government protests, which bring about greater state repression. In contrast, the causal effects of imposed sanctions on human rights violations are transmitted first through declining economic growth and then higher levels of protests.

Authors

• Ryan Yu-Lin Liou, University of Georgia

• Amanda Murdie, University of Georgia