Peace Policy: Solutions to Violent Conflict, December 2021

**The Continuing Challenges of Sanctions Policy Reform and Humanitarian Impact:** Since the end of the Cold War, economic sanctions have become an essential instrument of global and national foreign policy, imposed to end civil wars, and thwart nuclear proliferation, mass atrocities, and terrorism. But over the past decade sanctions have become entangled in at least eight major humanitarian disasters. The articles in this issue explore the use of maximum pressure sanctions in three distinct contexts—Iran, Syria, and Venezuela—and suggest policy solutions and strategies to make sanctions an effective tool while mitigating their negative humanitarian impacts: * **The Continuing Challenge of Sanctions Policy Reform**. By David Cortright and George A. Lopez * **The Inflation Weapon: U.S. Sanctions and the Assault on Iranian Households**. By Esfandyar Batmanhelidj * **Options for Leveraging Sanctions to Address the Syria Conflict**. By Stacia George, Hrair Balian, Nancy Azar, and Annie Charif * **Sanctions, Venezuela’s Crisis, and Options for Economic Statecraft**. By Francisco Rodríguez