Hasta la victoria, siempre? The Effectiveness of Economic Sanctions: The Cuban Embargo

Abstract

“Do economic sanctions work?” This question has been the focus and source of dispute of many studies of international relations. This dissertation examines the effectiveness of economic sanctions through an analysis of the Cuban embargo from its beginning in the early 1960s through the latest developments of the present days. By dividing the analysis of the embargo into five historical phases I intend to reevaluate its effectiveness by looking at the US decision-making process and the alternative policy solutions available in each phase. The vast majority of literature measures the effectiveness of sanctions using old and antiquate model. This dissertation challenges the argument that economic sanctions are often ineffective tools of foreign policy and focuses on a revalidation of the Cuban embargo by rejecting this old model. The changes currently affecting US-Cuba relations will serve as an incipit to rediscover, under a new perspective, the mechanisms that led to the imposition and maintenance of the embargo for over fifty years. Data have been collected from published reports, interviews, newspapers and scholarly articles to better understand the controversy surrounding the effectiveness of economic sanctions and the debate on the Cuban embargo.