In July 2012, the 100 members of the Friends of Syria international group
met to call for tougher sanctions on Bashar al-Assad’s government and
its supporters. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Russia and China to “get off the sidelines” 1 and assist the rest of the
international community in putting pres-sure on the regime. Animosity between Syria and the West was not new, but the uprising further cemented Syria’s perception as a pariah with the Western world.
One of the only non-military options at the disposal of the Friends of Syria in dealing with the crisis is sanctions. Sanctions are a common option for states when dealing with “rogues” or “pariahs,” and as such it is important to constantly re-evaluate them as a foreign-policy tool. Syria is an ideal
case study for this re-evaluation, as there are two clear instances in which sanctions have been implemented to change the regime’s policies after 9/11