smart sanctions --- I would add to these family of "smart words", the "smart sanctions", a concept that is relatively new in the history of international politics.

“Smart sanctions” are in fact targeted sanctions, that is sanctions applicable only in some restricted areas. They are intended to be more effective by putting direct pressure on individual national policy-makers.

These sanctions included arms embargoes, financial sanctions on the assets of individuals and companies, travel restrictions on the leaders of a sanctioned state, and trade sanctions on particular goods.

The search for more selective sanctions began as a response to the devastating effect that the UN Security Council sanctions imposed on Iraq in 1990 and 1991 had on the population. Combined with the destruction resulting from the bombing campaign, the sanction led to widespread malnutrition, epidemics of water-borne diseases, and the collapse of every system necessary to ensure human well-being.

The “smart sanctions” should be designed in a way that they would not have the humanitarian impact of broad trade sanctions.

Source author: Petru Dumitriu PetruD@diplomacy.edu