Can Sanctions Stop Proliferation?

In contemporary international relations, sanctions are a means of settling disputes and attaining specific policy objectives, often employed to reflect the dissatisfaction of certain members of the international community over another member's domestic or international behavior. In recent years, sanctions have been imposed against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Iran to compel these regimes to give up their nuclear weapons or suspected nuclear programs. Here, Shen discusses how effective have these sanctions been and explores what do these cases say about China's evolving attitudes toward sanctions as a nonproliferation tool.