Sanctions have become the go-to foreign policy tool for the United States. Coercive economic measures such as trade tariffs, financial penalties, and export controls affect large numbers of companies and states across the globe. Some of these penalties target nonstate actors, such as Colombian drug cartels and Islamist terror groups; others apply to entire countries, including North Korea, Iran, and Russia. U.S. policy makers see sanctions as a low-cost tactic, but in reality these measures often fail to achieve their intended goals—and their potent side effects can even harm American interests.

Backfire explores the surprising ways sanctions affect multinational companies, governments, and ultimately millions of people around the world. Drawing on interviews with experts, policy makers, and people in sanctioned countries, Agathe Demarais examines the unintended consequences of the use of sanctions as a diplomatic weapon. The proliferation of sanctions spurs efforts to evade them, as states and firms seek ways to circumvent U.S. penalties. This is only part of the story. Sanctions also reshape relations between countries, pushing governments that are at odds with the U.S. closer to each other—or, increasingly, to Russia and China.

Full of counterintuitive insights spanning a wide range of topics, from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to Iran’s COVID response and China’s cryptocurrency ambitions, Backfire reveals how sanctions are transforming geopolitics and the global economy—as well as diminishing U.S. influence. This insider’s account is an eye-opening, accessible, and timely book that sheds light on the future of sanctions in an increasingly multipolar world.

"Anyone interested in sanctions, especially those implemented by the United States and the broader impact of the economic tool, should explore this very current and thoughtful work. This book will be appreciated by both the general reader and serious scholar, which makes it a perfect addition to economic and policy collections." - Library Journal

"The heyday of US-led sanctions is drawing to a close. Demarais predicts that a self-reliant China will increasingly undermine US sanctions on Iran, North Korea, Russia, Venezuela and other authoritarian regimes. Backfire provides valuable pointers for policymakers." - Australian Strategic Policy Institute

"Important. Compelling. Relevant." - War on the Rocks

"Demarais takes the normal critique further, arguing that sanctions . . . encourage behavior that runs counter to U.S. interests." - Washington Post

"[Demarais] highlights the limitations and negative side effects of sanctions." - Foreign Affairs

"Excellent, insightful and rather sobering." - The Conversation

"Demarais’ astute analysis is both compelling and persuasive. […] Backfire is an engaging and enlightening read on a crucially important subject." - The Bridge

"Her industry perspective is illuminating when exploring how firms behave toward sanctions." - International Affairs

"The book is riveting stuff for the reader. It encompasses case studies of many episodes of US sanctions in recent decades, starting with Cuba. In short, an abundance of high-quality and delicious food for thought. Not only about sanctions, but especially about contemporary America." - Belgrade Law Review

"Demarais offers a timely and important contribution of a primarily European perspective to an important debate: Do U.S. sanctions work? Her book is a breezy tour through a series of case studies that examine the sometimes unforeseen forces U.S. sanctions unleashed, their impact on European companies, and the responses they triggered from European officials. […] The lesson one might draw from “Backfire” is this: The U.S. needs to engage Europe." - The Diplomat

"In Backfire, Agathe Demarais highlights the risks of [export controls]. Though her manuscript was completed before the chip export ban, her argument is prescient: […] to be effective, [sanctions] should be targeted, short-term, and backed by allies." - Project Syndicate

"Agathe Demarais has written one of the timeliest books to be published in [2022]. […] Demarais’s book is not only essential to understanding the dynamics of U.S. sanctions but, considering that it was finished in early 2022, has proven to be prophetic with regard to recent developments in Russian oil, European energy, and semiconductors." - The Oxonian Review

"Current sanctions may undermine the effectiveness of future sanctions; thus, weaponizing Western banks and currencies against Russia may encourage Moscow and others to increase their reliance on China’s financial system. Demarais posits that the use of sanctions as a policy instrument has probably peaked." - Foreign Affairs

"Demarais, a global policy expert, provides a contemporary analysis of U.S. sanctions’ place, function, and effects in the world. [She] illuminate[s] how globalization became weaponized by superpowers and how it might have fractured the world." - The New Republic

"Backfire offers a critical contribution to the field by explaining to laypersons, policymakers and international affairs experts alike what sanctions are about and what they do in ‘real’ life. Agathe Demarais uses an impressive number of examples and anecdotes to surgically decipher how sanctions work." - RUSI Journal

"Backfire […] paints a fascinating picture of what sanctions can mean in practice. Against the vague and general descriptions in much popular and academic writing on sanctions, Demarais provides startling, [overwhelming], and instructive case studies of sanctions gone wrong." - International and Comparative Law Quarterly

"The book’s perspective can be distinguished from works by former US officials […]. American sanctions practitioners tend to write about sanctions with a certain detachment. They rarely have experience “in the field” and the unintended consequences are an affirmation of the power of the economic weapon they helped develop. For her part, Demarais aims to provide a “clear picture” about [sanctions’] effects." - Phenomenal World

"Demarais’s argument raises important questions about why the Biden administration would choose to start a process of decoupling from China that is likely to have such potent longer-term consequences in terms of how the global economy is put together […]. Too many analysts have pointed in this direction. Demarais is one of the most recent and most compelling." - Survival

"Backfire is particularly strong on the concerns that European political leaders had over the United States’ unilateral use of sanctions. These policies, plus U.S. tariffs on European and allied goods, fueled the “strategic autonomy” agenda aimed at ensuring the EU could conduct its own foreign policy." - Lawfare

"Precise, direct, and spare, yet with an engaging tone often bordering on the wry, Agathe Demarais’s Backfire is everything one would expect of a book written by the head of The Economist’s Intelligence Unit. It achieves the rare blend of being both informative and enjoyable. Demarais’s guidance is offered neither as a polemic nor a jeremiad, but rather as a frank and honest appraisal of a highly popular national security policy tool whose future utility may be increasingly limited." - Proceedings

"From unintended humanitarian consequences to sanctions derailing global commodities markets, Demarais provides detailed sanctions of well-intended policies having unintended consequences." - National Interest

"Recommended." - Choice

"This book is a must read for any student or academic wishing to broaden their understanding of sanctions." - New Zealand International Review