ABSTRACT This study examines the evolution, typology, and effectiveness of economic sanctions in international business across five centuries of geopolitical change. Using a phenomenon‐driven research (PDR) design combined with a realist historical approach, it synthesizes established categories of sanctions—ideological, political, national security, and economic—while tracing how their relative prominence has shifted over time. To account for earlier economic restrictions such as mercantilist trade policies, we introduce the concept of proto‐sanctions, positioned on a continuum between domestic protectionist measures and international coercive instruments. This framing highlights both continuity and transformation in the use of sanctions, from serving as triggers and supplements of war to becoming substitutes for direct military action. To illustrate these dynamics, we develop two case studies of U.S. sanctions against Russia and China, which reveal recurring patterns in motives and measures across distinct historical periods. The study also underscores the increasing role of countermeasures, offering new insights into sanctions as dynamic instruments of statecraft and business disruption in a globalized economy.
Gurkov et al. (Thu,) studied this question.