Are U.S. Sanctions Helping the Enemy?

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How effective are economic sanctions in shaping global behavior—and what happens when they backfire?

In this episode of the At the Boundary podcast, host Jim Cardoso is joined by Dr. Zachary Selden, a leading expert on U.S. foreign policy and economic sanctions from the University of Florida. Together, they explore the evolving role of sanctions in diplomacy and global security, using both historical and current examples to examine when sanctions work—and when they don’t.

Key topics include:

• The U.S. embargo on Japan before WWII and its strategic consequences
• Sanctions on Russia and Iran: impacts, workarounds, and domestic responses
• How sanctions can unintentionally drive local production (like rare earth metals)
• Why sanctions are more effective when tied to specific goals—not regime change
• The challenges of sanctioning authoritarian regimes with access to alternative suppliers like China

Whether you're a policy professional, student of international relations, or just curious about how sanctions shape global events, this episode offers clear, timely insights into one of the most debated tools of modern statecraft. 

Links from the episode:
• Future Strategist Program Cyber Frontier Summit

At the Boundary from the Global and National Security Institute at the University of South Florida, features global and national security issues we’ve found to be insightful, intriguing, fascinating, maybe controversial, but overall just worth talking about.

A "boundary" is a place, either literal or figurative, where two forces exist in close proximity to each other. Sometimes that boundary is in a state of harmony. More often than not, that boundary has a bit of chaos baked in. The Global and National Security Institute will live on the boundary of security policy and technology and that's where this podcast will focus.

The mission of GNSI is to provide actionable solutions to 21st-century security challenges for decision-makers at the local, state, national and global levels. We hope you enjoy At the Boundary.

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