Political Economy of Sanctions: Resilience and Transformation in Russia and Iran

This book presents a comparative analysis of Russia and Iran under sanctions. The use of sanctions in international political economy has increased dramatically in recent years. Sanctions have now become one of the most important instruments of U.S. foreign policy. Whilst the growing literature on sanctions has focused primarily on their effectiveness, much less attention has been paid to the ways in which sanctions have transformed target societies and states. Notwithstanding the relentless enactment of sanctions, Russia and Iran have become more self-reliant, less democratic, and have taken a more aggressive posture towards the West. Both states gradually adopted Hobbesian type of governance based on power centralisation, para-constitutional reformation, economic diversification and optimisation, human resource development, and cadre formation. This book explores the mechanisms by which sanctions operate by developing a novel Welfare State Regime approach (WSR) that combines welfare state functionality with institutional, economic, and cultural structural dimensions. The book distinguishes such mechanisms throughout the comparative analysis of socio-economic processes that evolve in Russia and Iran. Despite cultural differences, Russia and Iran reveal important structural, political, and economic commonalities. Although the Russian and Iranian WSRs have been strengthened in response to sanctions, the contradictory nature of CHMs might significantly constrain further consolidation. What are these contradictions? What are their strengths and weaknesses?