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Should sanctions on Burma be lifted?

As the brutal crackdown against dissenting monks in 2007 showed, Burma's military junta has an appalling record on human rights. The international community have responded by shutting down trade with the regime, but isolating Burma has only cemented the power of Than Shwe and his generals.

The history of sanctions, in Cuba, South Africa, Iraq, the Balkans and many other countries, is not one of widespread success. Often, they are better at allowing westerners to express their moral outrage than they are at forcing regimes to change – or forcing regime change. So, with trade restrictions hurting the poor more than the rich in Burma, is it time for a new approach?

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