Contribution to Studies on
International Sanctions
Compiled by
Mikael ErikssonDepartment of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala, May 2003
This is an updated version of the bibliographic paper on international sanctions published on the web in 2002 (Maria Wold-Troell contributed to the Webb-layout of this product). The aim has been to keep track of all types of literature that flourish on the sanctions subject. The amount of references that is generated on sanctions yearly is beyond reach. However, this list is an attempt to contribute to keeping up to these makings. The idea behind collecting sanctions literature was because of the need to present ongoing research in one place. Furthermore, the aim has been to provide those interested in peace studies, international relations and sanctions in particular, with a guide and tool to the extensive literature flood on sanctions. In this second and updated version, the standalone publications as well as articles have been updated. However, the other type of report cluster that was created for the first version has not been updated here although it is included (the material not updated for this version is those coming from various agencies, institutions, parliaments, resolutions, UN documents etc.). It is difficult to do the updates on this type of sources in a systematic way.
This bibliography does not provide comments on each source, but rather lists references in an alphabetical order within a system of classification. Secondly, although trying to be as open as possible for relevant sources on international sanctions, the majority of sources are English written (which may give a slightly partial view of the sanctions discussion that is going on in other non-English speaking countries.). Thirdly, when searching for literature on sanctions one will naturally miss out several references as the sanctions concept have many names such as "blockades", "embargos" etc. However, these lost types of sources probably tend to be more specific in character than comprehensive.
There are two basic categories in this bibliography: books (e.g. stand alone publications, reports or papers by publishers or institutions) and articles (as well as chapters in books, reviews etc.). The bibliography was primarily created by the use of two primary databases.
First the U.S. Library of Congress online database was used to scan for books on the topic of sanctions, "sanctions" was used as the search word. The U.S. Library of Congress is probably the world's most comprehensive literature database. There were no limitations to the search.
Secondly, the Social Science Citation Online Index was used to find existing articles on sanctions. The citation database is managed by the Institute for Scientific Information. "Sanctions" was used as the search word.The citation frequency is not indicated in this. Contrary to the book search, the article search was limited in its scope.
Due to the large amount of texts that have been published over the years, a five years limitation was used (i.e. from 1997 to May 2002). Thus, two large, independent candidate lists were composed, brought together in this bibliographic master list. A third list was created thereafter, to collect all those articles and references that fell out due to reasons such as: the set time limit, un-precise information, or because of un-clarity of the sanctions theme. This list however, is not included in the bibliography.
> The bibliography is divided into four broader themes:
- International Sanctions,
- United Nations Sanctions,
- International Economic Sanctions,
- International Law,
Besides regular books and articles presented in the list an additional gathering of publications is done under "other" and under "selected conference reports". Other sources are publications gathered in alphabetical order according to the sponsoring institution or department, foremost because there was an absence of individual author. The selected conference reports fit well into the recent international processes and contemporary debates on sanctions. They are more policy oriented than the rest of the literature. To this section was also a list of web-addresses added.
The model described above of classifying sanctions literature may not be the ideal design. However, the system used shows the possibilities of identifying some general thematic trends in the current sanctions debate. Additionally, if this bibliography is expanded with complementary literature it could also fit as support to some of the observations and findings made earlier by researchers on the sanctions debate that have taken place. For example, Wallensteen identifies thirty years cycles in the sanctions debates: Wallensteen, Peter. A Century of Economic Sanctions: A Field Revisited. Uppsala Peace Research Papers, no. 1 (Uppsala: Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University, 2000).
The debates have often been sparked of by effective sanctions regimes over the years. For example: a first round of debate came in the 1930s when the debate concerned the question of containing aggression (generated by the situation leading to Second World). The second debate in the 1960s, as sanctions were discussed and used as method to speed up decolonisation (especially in the case of South Africa). And a third debate dated in the 1990s as the UN imposed measures against Iraq..
The author encourages comments and welcomes updates.
Stand alone publications
Articles, Chapters and Reviews
Confrence Papers on the WWW
Publishing date: 18-Sep-2002. Last Update: 14-Maj-2004