How do economic sanctions affect democratization, and should the former be used to promote the latter? Imposing economic pain on a large swaths of an already vulnerable population in order to nudge democratic change poses thorny issues from a positivist and normative perspective. Does it work, in terms of securing democratic outcomes? Even if it did, is the way of achieving change justifiable? Economic pain affects a population that is typically without a political voice. The target population has to bear the brunt of sanctions, over something is not responsible for and may be un- able to change. We explore the connections between the normative and positive sides of the argument in light of theoretical and normative developments in two decades of post-Cold War research on democracy. We argue that some sanctions policies, used under specific conditions are more, and others - less, justifiable than others.
