Set 4C — Statecraft, Diplomacy, Engagement & Sanctions

What is statecraft?

The techniques that states use to exert influence and project their power in international relations.

What are the three broad tools of statecraft shown in the slides?

Diplomacy, engagement/sanctions, and the use of force.

What is diplomacy?

A form of statecraft in which bargaining and negotiations are central.

What is the two-level game, according to Robert Putnam?

A model in which diplomacy involves international bargaining between states and bargaining between a state's negotiators and their domestic constituents.

What happens at the first level of the two-level game?

International bargaining between states.

What happens at the second level of the two-level game?

Bargaining between the state's negotiators and its various domestic constituents.

What is Track I diplomacy?

Talks and negotiations among government officials or actions taken as official government policy.

What is Track II diplomacy?

Informal diplomatic interactions by individuals from outside government with the aim of helping resolve a conflict.

When can Track II diplomacy be useful?

When relations are highly tense, when formal diplomatic channels have not been established, or during early negotiations when both sides want to test the waters and gather information about the other's thinking.

What is economic statecraft?

The use of economic tools to influence another state's behavior.

What is engagement in economic statecraft?

Offering a “carrot” by rewarding a state for moves in the desired direction to encourage it to act in the desired way.

What are examples of engagement in economic statecraft?

Granting trading privileges, permitting trade in sensitive products, giving corporations investment guarantees or tax breaks, and allowing imports at the best rates.

What are sanctions in economic statecraft?

A state may threaten to act, or actually take action, to punish a target state for moves in an undesired direction.

What are the two possible goals of sanctions described in the slides?

To punish a target state for actions it has already taken or to try to change its future behavior.

What are examples of sanctions?

Freezing a target state's assets, prohibiting certain financial transactions, arms embargoes, and comprehensive sanctions.

What are the three types of sanctions classifications listed in the slides?

Unilateral versus multilateral, comprehensive versus targeted, and primary versus secondary.

What is the difference between unilateral and multilateral sanctions?

Unilateral sanctions are imposed by one state; multilateral sanctions involve multiple states.

What is the difference between comprehensive and targeted sanctions?

Comprehensive sanctions broadly restrict economic activity with a target; targeted sanctions focus on specified people, entities, or activities.

What are primary sanctions?

Restrictions on one's own trade or transactions with the target state: “I don't trade with you.”

What are secondary sanctions?

Punishments imposed on other actors for trading with or doing business with the target state: “I punish anyone who trades with you.”

Why do sanctions often serve as an intermediary option between diplomacy and war?

They are less costly than warfare and less prone to be perceived as weak compared with diplomatic measures.

Why are the effectiveness and morality of sanctions widely debated?

Sanctions sometimes hurt ordinary people more than governments.

What puzzle about U.S. sanctions do the slides raise?

Why the United States relies so heavily on sanctions when they often fail, yet their use keeps rising and the United States is the most frequent user globally.

According to the slides, why have sanctions risen as other tools have weakened?

War fatigue, diplomatic limits, declining soft power, and rising challengers such as China and Russia.

According to the quotation from Drezner in the slides, why are sanctions politically attractive to Congress?

Economic coercion is viewed as less costly and less risky than declaring war but tougher than a symbolic resolution, allowing politicians to say they are taking action even if it is not working.

What humanitarian costs of sanctions are mentioned in the slides?

Research on sanctions in Latin America and the Caribbean finds that they significantly reduce economic growth, worsen income inequality, and amplify poverty; financial and trade restrictions are among the most damaging.