Report

A new playbook: Making sanctions more effective

This report from UK think tank the Henry Jackson Society examines how to make sanctions more effective.

Economic sanctions have become a cornerstone of modern international diplomacy, increasingly employed by governments around the world to advance a wide range of foreign policy objectives – from deterring armed conflict to disrupting illicit financial flows and combatting corruption.

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of financial sanctions, tracing their historical evolution, operational mechanisms and real-world effectiveness. As we demonstrate throughout, financial sanctions offer several advantages over alternative policy tools – notably traditional diplomacy and military intervention. However, these measures are not without their limitations. Chief among the challenges is the growing sophistication of sanction evasion tactics. This report examines, in particular, the risks posed by foreign investment in distressed debt, which can significantly dilute or circumvent the intended impact of sanctions.

Moreover, while financial sanctions do impose economic costs, their overall effectiveness is often undermined by the adaptability of targeted regimes, geopolitical fragmentation and the lack of coordinated enforcement across jurisdictions.

To address these vulnerabilities, this report puts forward a series of concrete policy recommendations. These include improving the design of sanctions, modernising compliance frameworks, closing loopholes in distressed debt markets and strengthening international cooperation – particularly through enhanced public–private collaboration.

We firmly believe that, if adopted, these measures would significantly enhance the strategic impact of financial sanctions and reinforce their role as a credible and effective instrument of foreign policy.