EU Policy Talk: Are EU Sanctions Effective?

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EU Policy talk poster

The Centre for European Studies Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence in cooperation with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Ottawa office, is pleased to host an EU Policy Talk, “Are EU Sanctions Effective?” with Dr. Clara Portela, University of Valencia. This is an in-person event on the Carleton campus.

About the event: Within the toolbox of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), the EU employs sanctions to respond to a broad array of foreign policy challenges, including most recently the Russian invasion of Ukraine. EU sanctions are also aimed at addressing other concerns, such as democratic backsliding, human rights violations, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, the misappropriation of state assets, and human trafficking. But how do we know whether and when sanctions are effective? Despite the growing reliance on sanctions, mainstream analyses typically portray the sanctions regime as unsuccessful. However, most assessments are based on the observation that the target of sanctions fails to alter its policy course. This talk proposes an alternative assessment framework that first identifies the purposes pursued by sanctions and relies on a broader set of criteria to produce a more accurate picture of their effectiveness.

Registration is required for this event due to room capacity; please register below.

About the presenter: Dr. Clara Portela is the inaugural Konrad Adenauer Visiting Scholar on Transatlantic Relations at the Centre for European Studies at Carleton University. She teaches Political Science at the University of Valencia, having previously served as a professor at Singapore Management University and as a research fellow with the European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) in Paris. Her research focuses on multilateral sanctions and EU foreign policy. She holds a Ph.D. from the European University Institute in Florence and an MA from the Free University of Berlin. She is the recipient of the THESEUS Award for Promising Research on European Integration.