The consequences of sanctions

LESSON 2

GOALS: Economic sanctions can have a significant impact upon the everyday lives of those under affected governments. The objective of this lesson is to explore the unintended consequences of sanctions using Iran as a case study.

INSTRUCTIONS: A few days before, students should be divided into four to five groups with each group assigned one of the research areas listed below:

ASSIGNMENT: Each group should put together a five-to-ten-minute presentation summarizing the impact sanctions have had on their respective areas. Specific attention should be paid to the following questions:

  1. How are sanctions impacting your research area?

  2. What was the intended target/goal of those sanctions?

  3. Do these consequences positively or negatively impact U.S. foreign policy goals?

CLASS DISCUSSION: Once all groups have presented their topic areas, discuss the impacts of sanctions and their overall cost-benefit. This can be done either as a class or by creating new groups consisting of one member from each research area. These talks should seek to engage the following questions:

  1. How do these unintended consequences inform your assessment of U.S. sanctions?

  2. In your assessment, can sanctions be more refined to avoid these effects? If so, how? If not, why?

  3. Why is it important to look at the complexities that underly sanctions policies?