Transcript Mphatso Phiri -- The Evils of Economic Sanctions and Their

THE EVILS OF ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AND THEIR
EFFECTIVENESS: THE CASE OF ZIMBABWE
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Introduction
How economic sanctions work
Critical overview of sanctions
Brief historical background of Zimbabwe
Reasons for sanctions and how they were applied
Consequences of sanctions to Zimbabwe
Possibility of effectiveness
Conclusion.
Introduction
• Sanctions, both economic and political have become
prevalent in international governance since the end of
Cold War
• An alternative to military invasion
• United States for instance has often used sanctions
unilaterally as a regular feature of its foreign policy
• About 75 of the world’s 200 countries were subject to
U.S sanctions in 1999.
How economic sanctions work
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changing the conduct of the target state
The goal of economic sanctions, therefore, becomes one of forcing the
target state to modify its behavior.
The success or failure of the sanctions is assessed in terms of whether the
appropriate (the desired) change has been made
Effectiveness is tied to observable behavioral modification of the regime of
the target state
Economic sanctions are pursued under the assumption that the citizenry of
the target states, those who will largely suffer the consequences of
sanctions, will either remove the offending regimes or pressure them to alter
their policies.
Or the government will voluntarily change the policies after suffering from
the consequences of the sanctions
Critical overview of sanctions
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Sanctions are generally ineffective e.g. Cuba, Afghanistan, Iraq…
The cost of pursuing that policy is greater than the benefit gained from it.
Economic sanctions deprive citizens of the target.
The often high cost in life, liberty, and property on innocent citizens.
(Kantian version of this argument is that sanctions target innocent civilians for
suffering as a means to achieve a foreign policy objective, contrary to Kant’s
categorical imperative that we treat “humanity, whether in [our] person or in the
person of any other, never simply as a means, but also as an end.
The argument here is that it is morally unacceptable to impose suffering on innocent
sectors of the target state, as economic sanctions do, for an objective that does not
involve the prevention of the deaths of other innocent people.
At times the severity of these sanctions do in fact force those citizens to rally behind
regimes that they do not like.
In conclusion empirical evidence shows that economic sanctions do not often achieve
the objectives for which they are adopted
Brief historical background of Zimbabwe
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Land issue has been the most dominant agenda in the country’s politics before and after
independence, but has not been resolved.
Before 1980 Zimbabwe was a white-supremacist British colony and the British settlers took land
from the indigenous Matabele and Mashona people in the 1890s by force of arms using the British
soldiers.
By the turn of this century, in a country of 13 million, almost 70 percent of the country's arable
agricultural land was owned by less than 1 percent of the population (mostly white farmers, British
settlers).
During national liberation, independence talks were held in 1979. Talks almost broke down over
the land question, but Washington and London, eager for a settlement, agreed to ante up and
provide financial support for a comprehensive land reform program. Britain would finance a
resettlement scheme (£44 million), which involved buying farms and handing them over to
landless peasants or to militants. United Sates also made a pledge to do the same. However, this
was not honored in full.
Frustrated, and under pressure from war veterans who had grown tired of waiting for the land
reform they had fought for, and eager to gain political support, Mugabe embarked on a course that
would lead him headlong into collision with Western governments. He passed legislation enabling
the government to seize nearly 1,500 farms owned by white Zimbabweans, without compensation
Reasons for sanctions and how they were applied
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Mugabe’s policies of expropriating white farmland
Allegations of fraudulent elections
Human rights violations in the country
United States and Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery
Act, 2001
Consequences of sanctions to Zimbabwe
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foreign currency crisis in the country
Between 2000 and 2007, the national economy contracted by as much as
40 percent, inflation vaulted to over 4530 percent, and there are persistent
shortages of foreign exchange, fuel and food
Currently the hyperinflation in Zimbabwe is over 7000 percent
Foreign direct investment decreased from US$400 million per year to US$3
million in 2003 (any western investor trying to invest in Zimbabwe could be
doing so against his country’s national interest)
However, the poor economic policies of the government, have also affected
the economic situation in the country. Rather than further opening the
economy, the government has reversed some of its steps towards
liberalization; for example, by introducing exchange rate controls,
reintroducing import controls and have set price levels for all basic
commodities on the market.
The government printed ZWD 20.5 trillion to pay IMF arrears in Feb 2006
In 2006 the government printed more money to pay the military and police
300 percent pay increase and 200 percent civil service pay increase.
Possibility of sanctions effectiveness
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despite all these conditions and sufferings in Zimbabwe it is unlikely that the
US and EU sanctions will be effective
The sanctions themselves through economic suffering have weakened the
civil society.( Most literature indicates that people retreat from the
mainstream and worse and they begin to adjust and adapt to the conditions
of hardship. It becomes normal to queue for bread, fuel and to consume
rationed meals every day. The scarce resources on the market have
become perfect conditions for manipulation where food is used as a political
weapon. Mugabe has managed to build a patron/client relationship whereby
those who support his regime get the best from the scarce resources.)
Managed to manipulate the whole idea of sanctions in the country,
especially with the issue of land redistribution
Massive human capital flight out of the country
Lack of African support for sanctions.
Conclusion.
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Sanctions have been devastating to the already weak Zimbabwean
economy
Weak members of the society are hard hit by the effects of the sanctions,
while those in power continue to flourish.
Should sanctions should be abandoned? Obviously NO, but be shaped in
such a way that they minimize moral and material costs to the country and
its citizen, Human rights violations in Zimbabwe needs the world’s attention.
Zimbabwe economy is in crisis today mainly because of the economic
sanctions, due to the United States stand in the International monetary
Fund (IMF), World Bank and African Development Bank. Zimbabwe cannot
borrow any money to inject in its economy and generate income to pay its
external debts. As a result they keep on printing more money in order to
feed their citizens and a result of this the country has the highest inflation
rate in the world.