Public Opinion, Lobbies and Sanctions
... possible negative outcomes resulting from imposing sanctions on Russia. It is therefore reasonable to assume that governments of the most influential European countries did not have incentives to back stronger measures. On one hand, voters condemned Russia’s behavior but were not willing to bear the costs that sanctions would have brought; on the other, lobbies had great interests at stake and pressed their governments to step back. The adoption of “smart sanctions” imposed on individuals -not directly linked to the Russian government, represented the optimal compromise for the EU. They ...
02.09.2015