The Perils of a 'Total' Economic War

When major powers are subjected to extensive economic warfare like this, they have tended to escalate and retaliate.

Dan Drezner makes some important points about the economic war against Russia that has begun in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine:

If the goal is to compel, then the sanctioners need to be explicit about what Russia can do to get the sanctions lifted. I saw nothing in the joint statement that suggested any demands that could cause these sanctions to be lifted. That lack of clarity undermines coercive bargaining, because the targeted actor believes that sanctions will stay in place no matter what they do.

In principle, the conditions for sanctions relief in this case should be fairly straightforward: Russia halts its offensive, withdraws its forces, and then the punitive measures would end in fairly short order. The difficulty is that a state targeted with such broad and sweeping sanctions is liable to become intransigent and continue on the path that led to the imposition of the sanctions. When major powers are subjected to extensive economic warfare like this, they have tended to escalate and retaliate.