Sanctions in international law: un charter v. Unilateral measures of states

Abstract

This article analyzes the growing legal “schism” between sanctions authorized under the UN Charter (1945) and unilateral coercive measures imposed by individual states. The relevance of this research is explained by the fact that global powers, such as the USA, the EU and Russia, use economic pressure in order to achieve their objectives without consideration of the UN Security Council mandate. This might be harmful for international legal order because it goes against the UN Security Council. This research looks at the way major powers use sanctions and how they can be justified. It also looks at what other states and actors can do if someone uses measures of economic coercion against them.