The Role of the Magnitsky Transnational Advocacy Network in the Selection of Sanctions Targets

Abstract

This research is an exploratory study of foreign policy decision-making regarding Global Magnitsky and other targeted human rights and anti-corruption sanctions. It examines the consequences of a unique provision of the Magnitsky law requiring the government to consider information provided by civil society. This provision led to the generation of a transnational advocacy network dedicated to expanding targets of the Global Magnitsky program and eventually expanding further into advocating for the adoption of Magnitsky-style sanctions in other jurisdictions, as well as providing information for all manner of targeted human rights and anti-corruption sanctions.

This research analyzes how this network has been able to influence U.S. foreign policy and the foreign policy of U.S. allies and, more broadly, what this means for transnational relations, sanctions, and civil society. I use qualitative interviews as well as numerous primary sources to trace the process of the evolution of the Magnitsky transnational advocacy network. I demonstrate that there exists such a network, that it is influencing decision-making through its deep integration of civil society and government and the provision of specialized information, and that the conditions for network influence depend on the culture and preferences of enforcing agencies, which I identify.