The effect of democratic sanctions on leaders

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1669291 (Table of Contents)

Democratic sanctions as forms of foreign pressure are mostly preferred after the Cold War period by the US and its allies to spread democracy. The literature on sanctions which did not distinguish the aims of sanctions has long argued that sanctions have a negative effect on the level of democracy in targeted authoritarian states. However, whether sanctions are effective or counterproductive is still a scholarly debate. In this study, I investigate the impacts of sanctions on leadership change which is one of the crucial antecedents of democratization by distinguishing the aims of sanctions as democratic and non-democratic. Using cross-country time series data from 1990 to 2015, this study contradicts previous research and demonstrates that democratic sanctions lead to irregular leader transition in targeted countries. I also show that regardless of objectives of sanctions, greater economic growth makes irregular leader removal less likely.