Targeted sanctions have become a commonly used conflict management tool over the last decades. Yet, operating in the state-centric context, previous research has highlighted the unintended negative effects of the instrument. What remains understudied is the effects of targeted sanctions on rebel groups' behavior. Acknowledging that sanctions are never imposed in isolation, this thesis seeks to explore the effects of targeted sanctions on rebel groups' violence against civilians and how the presence of peacekeeping influences this. This thesis argues that targeted sanctions increase a rebel group's violence against civilians through the mechanism of constrained resources and decreased capabilities to provide selective incentives to its fighters. Peacekeeping counter this mechanism by acting as a physical barrier between the combatants and the civilians, ultimately altering the cost-benefit analysis. UNITA in Angola and RUF in Sierra Leone are examined using a within-case and an across-case comparison. The findings lend mixed support to the notion that targeted sanctions increase a rebel group's violence against civilians. However, the results support the second hypothesis; peacekeeping appears to counterbalance the adverse effects of targeted sanctions on rebel groups' violence against civilians.

Targeted sanctions have become increasingly utilized as conflict management tool to safeguard global peace and security. In recent years, there have been a global push to utilize this tool to specifically address conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). Yet, there is a dearth in research on how the imposition of targeted sanctions effect the prevalence of CRSV. This thesis aims to contribute to this alarmingly understudied relationship between targeted sanctions and CRSV by investigating the following research question: what impact do targeted sanctions have on the perpetration of CRSV by rebel groups? Thus, I employ a structured, focused comparison of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) in Sierra Leone and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda to test a theoretical theory which argues that targeted sanctions may increase the prevalence of CRSV perpetrated by the targeted rebel group. The empirical findings give partial support to both the proposed hypothesis and the theorized ‘selective incentive’ casual mechanism. However, the findings also suggest less effective sanctions may result in the hypothesized increase in wartime sexual violence perpetrated by the targeted actor, while more effective, debilitating sanctions may a decrease alongside other interventions.

The intent for this thesis is to explain and inform the process of the Iranian Nuclear Program throughout the last decades. The stand of the Islamic Republic of Iran has brought very delicate issues and confrontations to the international community. This thesis discusses the history of key countries that play an important part into developing the Iranian nuclear program. These countries being the United States, Israel, Russia and other countries part of the UN Security Council. This thesis also attempts to analyze and focuses on the domestic policies the government of Iran and its people have interacted with the nuclear deal. The nuclear deal between the UN Security Council members and the Islamic Republic of Iran have shown an array of acceptance and rejection within, specially, the United States, Arab countries in the region and Israel. The implementations of the solution to future confrontation are probably the main ideal to a healthy international community who can adapt to new measures and policies to a safer world. Using classical realist theory, based on Hans J. Morgenthau realist theory, the Iranian nuclear program could be explained with a different perspective. There are other international relations theories that could help explaining Iran’s government behavior and how it interacts with the international community. Iran’s move in the past years has shown progress towards the international community and has lowered the potential military action against Iran. Some countries like Israel continue on the dissatisfaction against the nuclear deal signed by Iran and the UN Security Council member countries. This thesis will show the behavior the country of Iran has had towards other countries based on their domestic policy.