Intelligence Squared Debate on Sanctions – key points now available on Intelligence Squared blog
20 October 2025
Global Sanctions partnered with Intelligence Squared last week to host a debate on the motion: Sanctions Don’t Work as a Tool of Foreign Policy.
The debate was chaired by POLITICO’s Anne McElvoy. The speakers were:
- Ian Proud, a former British diplomat;
- Tom Keatinge, Founding Director of the Centre for Finance and Security at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI);
- Rebecca Harding, a leading economist and author; and
- Edward Lucas, a writer and columnist specialising in European and transatlantic security.
The audience were polled before and after the debate:
- Before the debate, 36% thought that sanctions did not work as a tool of foreign policy, while 41% thought they did.
- After the debate, only 27% thought that sanctions did not work as a tool of foreign policy, while 63% thought they did.
To read the speaker’s arguments, please go to the Intelligence Squared Blog.
To watch the whole debate, visit the Intelligence Squared YouTube page.
