{"id":1878,"date":"2025-11-25T09:18:51","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T09:18:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zeitzureden.org\/pastevent\/zeit-zu-reden-sanctions-and-boycotts-as-tools-of-politics-and-civil-society\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T09:33:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T09:33:44","slug":"zeit-zu-reden-sanctions-and-boycotts-as-tools-of-politics-and-civil-society","status":"publish","type":"nor-pastevents","link":"https:\/\/zeitzureden.org\/en\/pastevent\/zeit-zu-reden-sanctions-and-boycotts-as-tools-of-politics-and-civil-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Zeit zu reden: Sanctions and boycotts as tools of politics and civil society"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Zeit zu reden: Sanktionen und Boykotte als Mittel von Politik und Zivilgesellschaft\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gaFMXyA9FuU?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\r\n<\/div><\/figure><br>\n\n<p>What means do governments and societies have at their disposal to put a stop to injustice, human rights violations and breaches of international law? Those who do not wish to resort to violence themselves usually turn to sanctions and boycotts to put pressure on the actor in question \u2013 whether state or non-state \u2013 and persuade them to change their behaviour. This involves cutting development aid, halting arms supplies, restricting imports and exports, expelling diplomats, imposing entry bans and freezing assets. Comprehensive trade embargoes, such as the one imposed on Iraq under Saddam Hussein, are rarely imposed today; after all, it is primarily the local population that suffers as a result. Instead, the exclusion of a country from the SWIFT banking communications system is now regarded as a particularly drastic measure.&#13;\n&#13;\nTranslated with DeepL.com (free version)<\/p>\n\n<p>The effectiveness of these measures is a matter of debate in academic circles. Generally speaking, they are more effective against democracies than against dictatorships. This is because, whilst the population of a democratic state can hold their government accountable for the economic consequences of sanctions and vote them out of office, autocrats portray such measures as an attack on the entire population, thereby fostering a sense of social solidarity that serves to stabilise their own rule.<\/p>\n\n<p>People often cite the example of South Africa, where an international trade embargo helped bring down the apartheid regime. Can this example be applied to other countries \u2013 such as Israel and Palestine? And why do the regimes in Russia, North Korea and Iran continue to survive despite years of comprehensive sanctions? What role do internal power dynamics and the balance of power play? And are there any general lessons that make sanctions and boycotts effective tools in the struggle against occupation and foreign rule?<\/p>\n\n<p>The panel will discuss the opportunities and risks of various measures and their application against states that violate international humanitarian law. Why do attacks that contravene international law lead to sanctions only in the case of Russia, but not in the case of the USA and Israel? The focus is on the question of how state-imposed sanctions and socially organised boycotts must be structured in order to stop crimes without causing humanitarian suffering. Should only individuals, specific economic sectors, or also state institutions and their representatives be isolated? Sanctions against ministers and generals seem obvious, but how effective are calls for boycotts against cultural figures, athletes and universities?<\/p>\n\n<p>With Khaled El Mahmoud, Isabel Feichtner, Deborah Feldman and Shir Hever. Hosted by Kristin Helberg<\/p>\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/friedenskonferenz.info\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/friedenskonferenz.info\/\">Home &#8211; M\u00fcnchner Friedenskonferenz tickets<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What means do governments and societies have at their disposal to put a stop to injustice, human rights violations and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1876,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"nor-pastevents_cat":[],"class_list":["post-1878","nor-pastevents","type-nor-pastevents","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeitzureden.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nor-pastevents\/1878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeitzureden.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nor-pastevents"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeitzureden.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/nor-pastevents"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeitzureden.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeitzureden.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeitzureden.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeitzureden.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeitzureden.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1878"},{"taxonomy":"nor-pastevents_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeitzureden.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nor-pastevents_cat?post=1878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}