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Embargo
An economic sanction used by one nation against another in an act to denounce a specific policy or deed enacted by the other, theoretically providing an impetus for change. It is generally considered a containment strategy, and as such, the embargo can continue for as long as it takes to bring about the change. In both academic and political arenas, its efficacy is often debated.
Historically, in the United States, the use of the sanction began with President Thomas Jefferson in the Embargo Act of 1807. Jefferson saw it as an alternative to war and argued that it provided both social and military benefits to the initiator. Although he may have seen the embargo as a moral necessity to condemn the actions of belligerent nations, it ...