(Ashgate, 2013) By Francesco Giumelli

The effectiveness of sanctions cannot purely be measured by the way they change the behaviour of their intended target. The degree to which sanctions constrain a rogue state's behaviour and the signals they send to future targets should also be prime considerations.

In this thought provoking book Francesco Giumelli measures the true effectiveness of EU sanctions against a range of states including Belarus, Zimbabwe, Moldova, Uzbekistan, the USA and China. He demonstrates that focussing purely on behavioural change is limiting, especially when considering the actions and motivations of an international organisation, and develops a process to evaluate the direct and indirect impact of EU sanctions. Giumelli demonstrates the many different ways sanctions have been used by the EU to produce positive direct and indirect results and provides a multi-level framework to assess the success of sanctions in the future.

‘This work belongs to a new generation of sanctions studies which focusses on clearly identified episodes within a particular case. By applying this approach to six European Union sanctions, Giumelli manages to draw nine valuable lessons on their effectiveness that are likely to generate great interest for sanctions researchers and policy makers alike.’ Peter Wallensteen, Uppsala University, Sweden and University of Notre Dame, USA

‘With Security Council gridlock leading to fewer UN sanctions, Giumelli provides a succinct, much needed analysis of the effectiveness of EU sanctions in advancing global norms. His scrutiny of the process and actors generating EU measures combines with a detailed analysis of various cases and a summary of lessons learned to make this an excellent contribution to the sanctions literature.’ George A. Lopez, University of Notre Dame, USA