Sanctions and peace building: assessing the impacts of economic sanctions on peace building in Sudan

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to assess how economic sanctions are useful tools to promote peace building in Sudan. I am interested in exploring the effectiveness of the most common reasons for implementing sanctions; to change specific behavior incompatible with democracy or to incur regime transformation. In order to examine this, we tend to examine the plausibility of economic sanctions to maintain international peace and security in Sudan considering the period 2014-2019. By applying these findings on opposing versions of modernization theory, I find measurable economic data that I can look at in connection with the case study. The episode chosen for the case study is the current sanctions being leveled against Sudan. In examining the economic impacts, I intended to look at the balance of payment (B.O.P) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) position of Sudan during the period sanctions were imposed on her and how sanctions affected the different levels of human and political rights and democracy in the country. In the end, I conclude that while economic sanctions can have some impact on specific goals and the foundation for support of democracy, they are unlikely to be the deciding factor in democratic development.