Review: Beyond Mexico
| Published date | 01 March 1996 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209605100126 |
| Date | 01 March 1996 |
| Author | Mark O. Dickerson |
| Subject Matter | Review |
184
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
well-documented,
to
the
point,
and
closely
linked
to
the
hypotheses
posed
in
the
opening
chapter.
Nossal
argues
that
in
contrast
to
the rational,
instrumental
approach
to
sanctions
described
by
the generic
theory,
the
process
observed
in
Canada
and
Australia
is
more
like a
'bag-of-magnets'
in
which
'sanctions
policy
is
usually
the
result
of
decision-making
that
is
invariably
messy,
not
always
forward
looking,
and,
most
important,
rarely
informed
by
clear
rationality.'
Nossal
concludes
that
the
result
of
the
push
and
pull
of
various
factors
in
many
cases
will
be
to
lure
policy-makers
into
'termination' and
'
rhetorical
traps,'
whereby
either
policy-makers
find
themselves
having
to
maintain
sanctions
indefinitely
or
concede
defeat
when
lifting
them,
or
inflated
expectations
produce
inevitable
disappointment.
But
of
course
these traps
also
frequently
ensnare
policy-makers
in
the
great
powers,
not
least
the
United
States.
The
push
and
pull
of
coalition
politics, domestic
politics,
and
the
desire
to
punish
can be
seen
in
the
pattern
of
recent
United
States
sanctions
policy
with
respect
to
Haiti,
Iran,
and
the
former
Yugoslavia.
A
more
accurate distinction
might
have
been
between
the
utility
of
the generic theory
in
explaining
how
sanctions
'work'
in
an
instrumental
sense
and
the
utility
of
the
bags-of-magnets in
explaining
why
policy-makers
continue
to
use
them
despite
limited
instrumental
'success.'
Kimberly
A.
Elliott/Institute
for
International
Economics,
Washington
DC
BEYOND MEXICO
Changing
Americas,
Vol
1
Edited
by
Jean
Daudelin
and
Edgar
Dosman
Ottawa:
Carleton
University
Press
and
Canadian
Foundation
for
the
Americas,
1995,
25
8
pp, $21.95
Over
the
last
five
years,
Canadian
foreign
policy
has
undergone
signif-
icant
change.
In
eleven
essays,
Beyond
Mexico
focusses
discussion
on the
development
of
the
changes.
The
editors'
'Introduction'
provides
the
framework
for
the
book
while
the
remainder
is
divided
into
two
parts
with
four
chapters
on
'Mexico'
and
six
on
'Beyond.'
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