Read, watch or listen to the news and you're likely hear about a sanctions threat. With military action often too costly or politically unpopular, the sanction looms as the tool of choice to respond to events in North Korea, Iran, Russia or Venezuela.

So how did we get here? Why are American policymakers so in love with the sanction? What questions should the public be asking to understand the effect these sanctions have on US foreign policy?

To help us answer those questions are:

• Richard Nephew, research scholar at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy and former State Department Deputy Coordinator for Sanctions Policy.

• Jonathan Kirshner, professor of International Political Economy at Cornell University, and author of "American Power After the Financial Crisis."

• Zachary Selden, professor at the University of Florida and former international affairs analyst at the Congressional Budget Office.

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Recorded August 4, 2017.

Hosted by Luke Vargas.