Human Rights and Economic Sanctions: the New Imperialism

The point of this Essay is to examine the role of economic sanctions, particularly those taken unilaterally by the United States, in influencing the development of human rights policies worldwide. In some cases those unilateral sanctions are imposed without considering cultural differences behind the human rights themselves. In other instances, the United States fails to consider the effectiveness of those sanctions. In still other situations, the United States fails to realize important self-determination issues or the idea of participating in the broader international community. In all cases, the United States, in its role as international arbiter of human rights, needs to be aware of blinding influences that can obscure its vision of the larger picture