Ethical Aspects of Economic Sanctions: A Third Theory

12 Pages Posted: 31 Mar 2014

See all articles by Robert W. McGee

Robert W. McGee

Fayetteville State University - Department of Accounting

Date Written: March 29, 2014

Abstract

Economic sanctions are intended to cause pain to the target country or, in the case of smart sanctions, to particular individuals or groups. Over the years, two basic views have emerged on the ethics of employing economic sanctions. One view applies utilitarian ethics to justify sanctions while another group applies utilitarian ethics to conclude that sanctions are generally not justifiable. Both of these groups also apply a version of rights theory. However, both groups of theorists apply an incomplete version of both utilitarian ethics and rights theory. The approach proposed in this paper employs a more complete approach that corrects for the deficiencies of the conventional wisdom.

Keywords: utilitarian, ethics, rights theory, sanctions, Bastiat, Pearl Harbor, Japan, Iraq, Afghanistan, World War II

JEL Classification: D63, F1, F13, H56, K11, K12, N42, N45, O24, P14, P16

Suggested Citation

McGee, Robert W., Ethical Aspects of Economic Sanctions: A Third Theory (March 29, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2417824 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2417824

Robert W. McGee (Contact Author)

Fayetteville State University - Department of Accounting ( email )

Fayetteville, NC 28301
United States

HOME PAGE: http://robertwmcgee.com

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