US economic sanctions on Cuba: An analysis of the reasons for their maintenance

Jan Nahrstedt

No 162/2021, IPE Working Papers from Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE)

Abstract: This paper investigates why the US economic embargo against Cuba is still in place, despite its lack of effectiveness towards the stated objectives of the US government. An explanatory approach with two theoretical frameworks from economics and political science is applied. The paper explores the assumption that the embargo is not in place to achieve a systemic change in Cuba, but rather because it satisfies certain interest groups in the US. An article with similar methodology from 1997 is updated, and the strength of established interest groups is re-evaluated. It is concluded that US interest groups supporting the maintenance of the sanctions against Cuba have significantly weakened since 1997. Additionally, the general US population's support for the embargo, while already weak in 1997, has further weakened and made a rapprochement of the US toward Cuba, especially under a Democratic Presidency, increasingly likely.

Keywords: trade sanctions; Cuba; economic embargo; political interest groups (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 F51 N42 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-ore
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:ipewps:1622021

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