It鈥檚 true that in history, economic sanctions have generally been a blunt instrument swung at whole countries. The US cut off trade with Japan in 1940, for instance, to try to curb its belligerence. (Didn鈥檛 work.) That approach continued through much of the modern era of United Nations-directed economic sanctions. In 1990, the UN Security Council imposed sweeping trade cutoffs on Saddam Hussein鈥檚 Iraq. The UN approved blanket sanctions against Haiti and Yugoslavia later that decade.
But starting in the mid-鈥�90s, diplomats began talking openly about 鈥渟mart sanctions鈥� aimed more narrowly at individuals. That鈥檚 because the more blunt instrument can hurt whole populations and make life miserable for innocent civilians. Take Iraq, where UN sanctions cut the nation鈥檚 economic activity in half. This created a humanitarian crisis, which Mr. Hussein blamed on the US.
