Snatching Mega-Yachts and Blacklisting Banks: Do Sanctions Actually Work?

In Episode 80 of his podcast "In the Room with Peter Bergen," New America Vice President and ASU Professor of Practice Peter Bergen examines debate over the growing use of sanctions as a foreign policy tool and when they can be effective.

American Presidents have been addicted to international sanctions for much of the modern era, as a way to influence the behavior of other countries. Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Syria – all have been subject to U.S. sanctions over the past four decades. But these regimes remain as defiant of U.S. geostrategic goals as ever. This week we explore Russian yacht snatching, the impact of sanctions on the Iranian people, and how a once-obscure office inside the Treasury Department ended up putting a chokehold on national economies all over the world.

Listen to the episode on Audible