Абдельхафез М.
THE POLICY OF SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA IN THE RUSSIAN AND AMERICAN PRESS *
Аннотация:
the paper enriches the knowledge in the professional field of Media communications. It improves our understanding linked to the question of sanctions inefficiency and their coverage in Russian and American press, including their websites. The methods employed in the research include discourse analysis and comparative analysis. The first chapter of the research is devoted to the consideration of the theory of sanctions, their categorization, and describes possible conditions for the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of the application of the sanctions policy. In the practical part of the paper, we analyze Russian and American press for the actions of sanctions and their effectiveness. Therefore, the research reaches the plausible conclusion demonstrating major results related to the sanctions efficiency in the way of changing the Russian foreign policy
Ключевые слова:
sanctions, efficiency, Russia, the USA, Ukraine, foreign policy, economy impact
УДК 32
Абдельхафез М.
выпускник бакалавриата НИУ «Высшая школа экономики»
факультета «Коммуникаций, медиа и дизайна»
(Москва, Россия)
THE POLICY OF SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA IN THE RUSSIAN AND AMERICAN PRESS
Abstract: the paper enriches the knowledge in the professional field of Media communications. It improves our understanding linked to the question of sanctions inefficiency and their coverage in Russian and American press, including their websites. The methods employed in the research include discourse analysis and comparative analysis. The first chapter of the research is devoted to the consideration of the theory of sanctions, their categorization, and describes possible conditions for the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of the application of the sanctions policy. In the practical part of the paper, we analyze Russian and American press for the actions of sanctions and their effectiveness.
Therefore, the research reaches the plausible conclusion demonstrating major results related to the sanctions efficiency in the way of changing the Russian foreign policy.
Keywords: sanctions, efficiency, Russia, the USA, Ukraine, foreign policy, economy impact.
Introduction
Since 2014, relations between the West and Russia have gradually deteriorated. This change was caused by the Ukraine crisis, joining of Crimea to Russia, as well as separatist sentiments of Donetsk and Lugansk. In this crisis, mass media played a significant role, not only in Ukraine, but also in the United States of America and Russia.
Mass media, supporting a specific position on the crisis and sanctions, disseminated their point of view to the public. Thus, the mass media influenced people, portraying someone as an enemy, violating international law, and determining the vector of opinions on the issue of sanctions. The peculiarity of the analysis in the research is that the different approaches of the press to the topic of sanctions will be described.
The theme of the research is devoted to the specifics of coverage of the sanctions policy towards Russia in Russian and American press. The reason to initiate the research is a relevant background situation at the political arena. It can be clarified by increasing tension between Russia and the West. Besides, there is a possibility of imposing new sanctions on Russia and tighten the old ones. The novelty of the study is explained by the empirical basis that has not been analyzed: the failure of sanctions policy has been researched through the analysis of the recent Russian and American press.
The theoretic significance of the research is in its contribution to the conceptions studied previously by the following authors: Ashford E, Christie E. H., Early B. R., etc. The practical significance of the research consists in the use of its results. The outcomes allow to evaluate the specifics of the coverage of the theme “sanctions against Russia” in different media on the country-level (comparing newspapers position and discourse) and on the general level (comparing American and Russian leading press). The study may be useful for academics in the international relations, law, and media fields as an illustration of sanctions theory and as a clarification of media influence on people and governments. In addition, the research may be useful for the professional as journalists’ societies that works in international and economic departments of the media or as a political сcolumnists. General reader may do also be interested in the research if he or she is concerned for international and sanctions news or for the specifics of media coverage the U.S – Russia relations.
The general hypothesis of the issue of the study is the following: the policy of sanctions is futureless and will not change the main development of the Russian foreign policy.
The objective of the research is to examine the empirical basis and to prove the futility of the policy of sanctions against Russia drawn from the analyzed papers. In order to reach this objective, we have to fulfill the following tasks:
Methodology and Research Description
The research consists of the four stages that include several steps of the analysis. The methods employed include the following: quantitative content, qualitative interpretive, rhetorical, and comparative analyses. In order to process the data qualitatively simple computer assisted tools (counting functions in Exel) have been used. The first stage is aimed at solving the following first task.
Firstly, we have defined the level of analysis: publications in newspapers as The Washington Post, The New-York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Kommersant, Novaya Gazeta, Rossiyskaya Gazeta and in a news agency Fox News. Secondly, we set pre-defined codes "informational occasion" that is the reason for the imposition of sanctions:
Overall, this manual coding of publications has revealed that newspaper The Washington Post, The New York Times and Fox News have written more about cyber-attacks and meddling; The Wall Street Journal has written more about the Skripals case. The Russian press analyzed in the study has written more about the Ukrainian crisis and the referendum in Crimea. (Ch.1)
The second stage is dedicated to the second task. Firstly, we set pre-defined codes “rhetoric” that act as an entity for determining the attitude of the press towards sanctions. The codes are the following:
In total, we conclude that the entirety-examined media consider sanctions as an ineffective policy, except Kommersant. The news outlet admits and esteems the possibilities when the sanctions affected their targets. (Tab.1) Secondly, we have compared the “information agenda” codes with the “rhetoric” codes. As a result, we have established that all the newspapers that have been analyzed inclined to believe that, regardless of the reason for the imposition of sanctions, such measures have been futile. However, the Kommersant newspaper is of the standpoint that sanctions, although ineffective, have an impact, and sometimes they achieve almost specific results. The approximate number of publications on the ineffectiveness of the sanctions policy in the total number of publications on sanctions in the selected period ranges from 45 to 50 %.
At the third stage we set the third task. Firstly, we set pre-defined codes “characteristics of sanctions as an ineffective measure”. The codes are the following:
Secondly, after a comparative analysis of the “rhetoric” code and the “characteristics of sanctions as an ineffective measure” code, we have calculated that in the analyzed publications Kommersant newspaper consider sanctions ineffective, since they did not affect the economy. Almost 60% of compared publications from Rossiyskya Gazeta and The Wall Street Journal assess sanctions policy as a fruitless one because of remaining of the previous political course by Russia (Ch.2). Novaya Gazeta esteems sanctions policy futile due to the symbolic nature of the imposed measures. Almost 67% of compared publications from The New York Times and The Washington Post value sanctions as ineffective policy due to the result of the weak US relationship policy towards Russia. (Ch.3) Thirdly, all the publications that have been analyzed believe that the sanctions against Russia imposed in the view of the Skripal case are ineffective and have a symbolic and limited nature.
The final stage is correlated with the last task. Initially, we set the first pre-defined codes “victims of sanctions policy”. The codes are the following:
The Russian press analyzed in the paper in its articles is adhered to the point of view that targeted companies and their partners suffer more from sanctions. Nevertheless, the studied American press considered to the perspective that the main victim of the sanctions policy are countries. (Tab.4) At the next step, we set the second pre-defined codes “future of sanctions policy”. The codes are the following:
Both the Russian and American press analyzed contains more articles with the prospect of tougher sanctions against Russia.
Literature Review
Our research is dedicated to the specifics of American sanctions imposed on Russia in concert with their consideration as ineffective measures both in American and Russian newspapers (including their web pages on the Internet). The key objective is to examine the essential characteristics of sanctions and to illustrate approaches to define the inefficiency of sanctions policy against Russia in the academic field and media sphere.
The purpose of the literature study is to learn the previous experience on this issue. There is research devoted to the problems of the definition of the word “sanctions”, methods of their classification in general and the categorization of the restrictions related to Russia. In addition, the perspective of the American sanctions non-effectiveness in changing the foreign policy of the Russian state is to be analyzed in the following review. However, helpful studies in the problem area were found, and we divided them into the three considerable parts.
Sanctions Theory
It is necessary here to clarify exactly what is meant by “sanctions”. The research presents a variety of theoretical approaches to understanding this term. In the academic field that term represents non-forcible (non-military) foreign policy measures adopted by states or international organizations that were taken to influence other states, entities or individuals with the aim to recognize their actions. (Gordon, 2019) In the field of international relations sanctions are equal to measures taken to compel the state to obey the international law. According to certain authors in the theme, sanctions may be split into three major categories: financial restrictions, trade restrictions and travel restrictions. Financial sanctions are mostly common imposed measures in the modern international sanctions practice. (Gordon, 2019; Early, 2015) According to the studied monographs, it is important to bear in mind that the United States of America is defined as the country, where economic sanctions served as a paramount policy implement.
Our research is tied up with the American sanctions policy against Russia. The literature highlighted several groups of measures imposed on this state. First, academics stressed that sanctions were targeted Russian individuals, business figures and the economy. There is a large number of published studies that describe the classification of imposed sanctions. (Ashford, 2016; Christie, 2016; Weiss and Nephew, 2016) They are the following (from less effective to more harmful in theory):
In theory sanctions aim to prevent and deter. Regarding the sanctions applied to Russia, the U.S acted in collaboration with the European Union (EU), both sanctions were imposed to strike the Kremlin (Ashford, 2016) and to undermine the key Russian economy sectors. (Christie, 2016; Weiss and Nephew, 2016) The variety of studies proved that economic and financial sanctions failed their goals. (Weiss and Nephew, 2016; Ashford, 2016; Gordon, 2019; Early, 2015) Academics agreed that the longer sanctions remained, the less effective they were, especially applicable to Russia. Besides, the analyzed literature emphasizes that American economic sanctions tend to be non-effective. This claim is based on data showing that sanctions achieve their objectives and are successful from 23 to 34 percent. (Early, 2015) Moreover, generally this policy failed in 66 percent of cases. (Ashford, 2016) A significant analysis and discussion on the issue of sanctions failure was presented by B. Early. He is the first to analyze this phenomenon from the perspective of the third-parties involvement in the sanctions policy: “the theory of sanctions-busting”. According to Early’s research, sanctions are ineffective and often failing, because there is the third non-sanctioned state that provided trade-aid (in most cases) or foreign-aid to the targeted states. Russia is supported by trade-aid from China and the BRICs states. (Christie, 2016)
Effectiveness of Sanctions and Their Consequences
While examining the selected literature, we draw the following structure of the main points in all papers: the inefficiency of sanctions imposed on Russia; the impact on the Russian business, foreign and entire policies; the influence on the U.S and the West; the unintended consequences. These studies clearly indicate that there is a relationship between the mentioned aspects. It is highlighted that in 2014 and 2015 the Russian economy faced a recession, because of the fall in oil prices, amplified by the imposition of sanctions. Nonetheless, the imposed economic measures entailed a significant capital outflow from Russia, and as a result, a decrease in investment. (Weiss and Nephew, 2016; Ashford, 2016; Christie, 2016) Despite the above consequences, Russian officials are confident that the sanctions not only failed, but also stimulated the domestic industry via import substitution.
Thus, the presented studies provide testimony that sanctions do not achieve their initial goals. Academics are sure that since the sanctions were imposed there was no changes in the Russian foreign policy towards Ukraine and later in other areas of the policy. More important to recognize that even American policy makers understand that nothing actually changed since 2015. Furthermore, on the one hand, the papers illustrate, how sanctions affected the Russian economy; on the other hand, it is acknowledged that Russia used different maneuvers to mitigate or circumvent the influence of sanctions. Moreover, sanctions were able to undermine the Kremlin, instead, they have affected quite on the contrary. As the result, people blame their ills on the U.S and EU.
Taken together, these studies support the idea that sanctions not only were fruitless but also caused the unintended consequences to the West. First, the West suffered losses, as the demand for the European goods and services fell, as well as the areas that supplied Russia with the equipment for oil production and military dual-use goods. Second, there were and remain concerns in Europe that targeting Russian entities in the energy sector may lead Russia to turn off natural gas and oil supplies, in turn, it will damage the European economies and beyond them. The Russian response to the Western measures embodied in prohibition on import products cost Europe losses of 40-50 billion euros. (Weiss and Nephew, 2016) Meanwhile, continuing this policy will cost over 90 billion euros in export revenue and a vast number of jobs losses. (Ashford, 2016) As for the U.S, sanctions undermine their economic and geopolitical interests. A big number of billionaires were cut off from the American banks. Likewise, the American energy companies had to abandon contracts and collaboration with Russia that caused losing billions of dollars of investments.
All of the studies reviewed here support the hypothesis that claims that the West should admit that the sanctions policy failed. The belief was based on the fact that for America and the EU sanctions become more expensive over time, and Russia’s policy remains unchanged and is unlikely to be otherwise. Nevertheless, it is important to bear in mind the possible bias in the perspective of Western and American academic papers.
Specification of the Sanctions Media Coverage
Despite the fact that Kiriyakova’s research concerns television, it identifies the main technique for shaping the public opinion in media – misinformation and manipulation. (Kiryakova, 2019) The key trend in the Russian media is to create a positive image of the Russian import restrictions and negative about the U.S and EU. However, this research provides data collected by content analysis that year after year the percentage of coverage and the amount of relevant news gets lower.
All the concepts made a significant contribution to the study of this subject. Based on the experience gained, it is now easier for newcomers and novice researchers to confirm or refute their own hypotheses. Our contribution consists largely in the fact that our analysis will draw on an empirical basis that has not been analyzed by other researchers until now. In addition, we conduct a comparative analysis of media reports covering the issue of the sanction inefficiency.
Results Anticipated
Conclusions
There are some delimitations of our project: temporal therefore the study based on an empirical basis that relates to the specific period in what sanctions were imposed, and the genre of the empirical basis we are analyzing are opinion-articles. This study can be continued in the future, since at the moment the policy of sanctions against Russia continuing, and the US and EU are threatening Russia with new sanctions. That topic can be developed from a different angle, for example, from the position of the European media.
REFERENCES:
Ashford E. (2016). Not-So-Smart Sanctions: The Failure of Western Restrictions Against Russia. Foreign Affairs, Vol. 95, No. 1, pp. 114-123. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43946631
Christie E. H. (2016) The Design and Impact of Western Economic Sanctions against Russia. The RUSI Journal, 161:3, 52-64 https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2016.1193359
Early B. R. (2015). Busted sanctions: explaining why economic sanctions fail. Stanford University Press
Gordon R. (2019). Sanctions law. Hart Publishing
Kiryakova A (2019). Student Representation of Mass Media as Tool for Forming Public Opinion. Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies, 10(3) https://doi.org/10.29333/ojcmt/7934
Weiss A. S., Nephew R. (2016). The Role of Sanctions in U.S.-Russian Relations. Carnegie Endowment Task Force White Paper. https://carnegieendowment.org/2016/07/11/role-of-sanctions-in-u.s.-russian relations-pub-6405
Appendices
|
Rhetoric |
Kommersant |
Rossiyskaya Gazeta |
Novaya Gazeta |
The Washington Post |
The New York Times |
The Wall Street Journal |
Fox News |
|
Sanctions are ineffective |
11 |
48 |
3 |
12 |
12 |
4 |
1 |
|
Sanctions are ineffective but with reservations;
|
15 |
23 |
2 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
- |
|
Sanctions are effective |
9 |
8 |
- |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
Номер журнала Вестник науки №2 (47) том 4
Ссылка для цитирования:
Абдельхафез М. THE POLICY OF SANCTIONS AGAINST RUSSIA IN THE RUSSIAN AND AMERICAN PRESS // Вестник науки №2 (47) том 4. С. 100 - 114. 2022 г. ISSN 2712-8849 // Электронный ресурс: https://www.вестник-науки.рф/article/5342 (дата обращения: 19.04.2024 г.)
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