Economic sanctions and their impact on the formation of the new global system

Our research, titled “International Economic Sanctions and Their Impact on the Formation of the New World Order,” explored the phenomenon of international economic sanctions and their influence in shaping a new global system by tracing their historical evolution and evaluating their effectiveness in modern international relations. Economic sanctions emerged as an alternative to military force following the end of World War I, when U.S. President Woodrow Wilson and other policymakers optimistically believed that international peace could be achieved through the use of “economic weapons” rather than armed conflict. However, the following decades revealed that the effectiveness of sanctions was not absolute—ranging from failures to deter aggression, as in certain wartime cases, to relative successes, such as in South Africa. The research focused on the shift in sanction mechanisms, particularly after the Cold War, when the international community—especially through the UN Security Council and regional bodies—began to implement sanctions more collectively and in a coordinated manner, reflecting a growing recognition of their role in regulating state behavior.The study also examined the legal dimensions of sanctions, the extent of state compliance, and the challenges surrounding their legitimacy and legality. A critical concern raised was the impact of sanctions on civilian populations, as they often extend beyond targeting regimes to causing humanitarian crises, thus undermining their moral and political validity.