With the new sanctions being pressed against Russia and North Korea, and the debilitating sanctions in the past against Iraq for instance, I'm left wondering if a country's leader has ever backed off on whatever he was doing that led to the sanctions in the first place?
Economic Sanctions against South Africa played a role in setting Nelson Mandela free in 1990, after 27 years of imprisonment. They also helped to peacefully end Apartheid and see the election of Nelson Mandela to the South African presidency in 1994.