Economic sanctions against Iraq: Human and economic costs

Economic sanctions are an instrumental policy used to deter a country from internationally unacceptable behaviour. In the case of Iraq, the sanctions were in reaction to Iraq's occupation of Kuwait. The purpose of the sanctions was to force the Iraqi invaders to withdraw from Kuwait. It was also expected that tight economic sanctions would reduce the welfare of the country and consequently trigger the affected masses to overthrow Saddam Hussein's government. The economic consequences have been terrible, inflation skyrocketed, personal income reached the lowest in the world, while unemployment hit a record high. The Iraqi army did not withdraw from Kuwait peacefully, however, nor was Saddam overthrown. In this article, we will discuss the consequence of the economic sanctions and why they punished the people more than the government.