Have sanctions achieved their political and economic goals in Zimbabwe Dissertation

Have sanctions achieved their political and economic goals in Zimbabwe - Dissertation Example It cannot be denied that the given policies have to some extent helped in stabilizing the strongly sanctioned economy by preventing a total collapse of the economic systems of a country that was once considered very successful. It is known that sanctions do not generally serve a positive role because they mostly lead to outcomes that are negative. Governments are known to develop contingency plans that aim at countering the adverse impact of sanctions. It is also evident that the sanctions imposed by the West are more reflective of thei...r own interests instead of what they purport to affect. Because of the different varieties of sanctions that have been imposed on Zimbabwe in its different sectors, this paper has mainly examined the economic and political impacts of the sanctions on the country and its people. This paper has found that after the imposition of sanctions in Zimbabwe, a number of sectors have deteriorated and put the lives of citizens to immense risk in view of the co llapse of health, education and water supply systems. Thus, the sanctions have worked in aggravating the conditions of people because the country’s relations with western countries have been soured and it has been virtually isolated in having only negligible influence amongst powerful nations. 1. Introduction It has been observed that states that have been known to violate human rights were invariably imposed with sanctions in different ways. Simply understood, sanctions are forms of punishments imposed on such states in order to make them comply with the given provisions of law. It is known historically that economic sanctions have been often used as an alternative to armed conflicts in making states to comply with given requirements. Zimbabwe has been under the grip of economic sanctions for over a decade, which has been imposed by the USA, the European Union, New Zealand, Switzerland and Australia on account of alleged human rights violations by the government. The US and the EU believe that the sanctions are measures to restrict the activities of President Mugabe and some officials of his government that are supportive of his policies. In contrast, the ZANU PF, Mugabe’ political party, has viewed the sanctions as being targeted against the entire nation. This paper will analyze the issue of whether the sanctions have achieved their political goals in Zimbabwe. The paper will make a critical appraisal of the effectiveness of the sanctions regime imposed on Zimbabwe The major crisis situations that led to the imposition of sanctions will be outlined after which the positive and negative impact of the sanctions will be examined by determining the effectiveness of the sanctions regime. In order to understand the issue thoroughly, it is important to briefly examine the historical patterns of sanctions. Essentially, sanctions are a means available to the UN Security Council under provisions of chapter 7