Blockade has been a successful tactic of war, limited war, and geopolitics, but is it still an effective measure? There are three types of blockades: belligerent blockade, which occurs in cases of total war; pacific blockade, which is a form of limited war and can be used as a measure short of war; and “limited blockade.” Although similar to the pacific blockade, the limited blockade has important differences: the pacific blockade is short-term and specific (e.g., the quarantine of Cuba during the Missile Crisis), whereas the limited blockade is longer-term and more general (e.g., the British blockade of the Falk-lands). A limited blockade, in short, could ban all items in the pursuit of limited objectives in a limited geographical area. New technologies (e.g., cruise missiles, large area real-time surveillance, V/STOL aircraft, etc.) make it easier to impose a limited blockade. However, in a democracy, even a limited blockade must have popular support if it is to be successful. Consequently, a blockade should not be imposed unless there is sufficient provocation to establish a long-term political consensus in favor of it.
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