Sanctions only work at all if there is trade and investment to sanction – think of North Korea. This means the autocrat has already liberalised first for there to be trade and investment to sanction. But if the dictator, be it a tin-pot dictator or a totalitarian, has liberalised, it must build loyalty around that liberalisation quickly or risk a coup. All revolutions are palace coups.
Source: Ronald Wintrobe (2002) Dictatorship.
A dictator who agrees to liberalise puts himself in danger of being deposed, and it is no surprise that dictators like Castro, Hussein and Milosevic were all reluctant to do so. The Austro-Hungarian emperor opposed the introduction of railways because he thought they would bring revolution with them.
Neither trade sanctions nor airstrikes worked against Afghanistan under the Taliban. There is nothing to destroy or degrade.
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
Recent Comments