Part 1 of 5 · freeIntroduction
To make a government back down without sending in the army, there is a weapon: economic sanctions. Ban its oil sales, freeze its assets, block its purchases of machinery, including what it needs to treat water. In 2015, Barack Obama argued that this pressure had brought Iran to the table: Tehran limited its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.
How does the pressure work? A targeted government may give in to regain access to its funds. But the effects quickly spill beyond the leaders: ordinary people can no longer afford food or find medicine, and water systems break down for lack of parts. Iraq in the 1990s lived through exactly that.
The rest is in the Sophia app.The remaining parts, the open-book quiz and the full glossary. Free to start; Premium unlocks everything.
- 2Iraq, 1990: the embargo as leverage
- 3When clean water is at stake
- 4Civilians pay the price
- 5Another form of violence
Open-book quiz8 questions whose answers are in the text.
Glossary6 terms explained in a tap.
30 languagesThe same course, from French to Japanese.
