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Shrewd Sanctions: Statecraft and State Sponsors of Terrorism, by Meghan L. O'Sullivan. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2003. xvi + 320. Notes to p. 405. Index to p. 424. $19.95 paper.
Shrewd Sanctions is a wise book of advice about how the United States can better integrate the use of economic sanctions into effective foreign policy. By "sanctions" Meghan O'Sullivan means "the deliberate withdrawal of normal trade or financial relations for foreign policy purposes" (p. 12). With the end of the Cold War they were a growth industry, initiated as often by Congress as by the Executive Branch, though our self-righteous enthusiasm for sanctions has apparently diminished in recent years. This book focuses particularly upon their political utility, whether unilateral or multilateral, and sets guidelines for their effective use. The author is not for or against the use of various economic sanctions, even when the United States unilaterally imposed them, but she insists that they need to be part of an overall strategy, preferably under presidential leadership (even concerning Sudan,...