4.1 - Ethical Issues and Debates Flashcards
Realism
Involves states and other global actors prioritising their specific interests and needs over those of the global community
Cosmopolitanism
Refers to the ideology that humanity is one single community, regardless of state, culture or levels of economic development
Justice
Refers to the concept of moral rightness based on ethics, law, fairness and equity that, importantly, also seeks punishment when said ethics are breached
Ethics
Seeks to address questions of morality and extends to global politics as global actors have underlying ethics to their actions, such as realism and cosmopolitanism
International Law
Traditionally only relating to states, international law is a body of rules established by custom or written legal agreements that are accepted as binding upon the international community
Mainstream Approach to Poverty
o Poverty is based on money – people don’t have enough money to satisfy basic needs because they are unemployed or underemployed
o Development is therefore defined as economic growth
o Solution is seen as Western countries helping developing countries, and working to integrate them into the global economy
o However, globalisation has actually led to an increase in the number of people in the USA living in poverty
Critical Alternative Approach to Poverty
o Poverty is a situation suffered by people who are not able to meet their material and non material needs through their own effort
o Dependency is not seen as a solution
o Believes that Western values of consumerism and individualism is seen as destructive
o Instead, believes that solution is to create wellbeing through sustainable societies in social, cultural, political and economic terms
Why is Development an Ethical Issue?
- Humanitarian grounds – moral obligation to ensure poverty is not the standard for the majority of the population
- Economic interests – development creates export markets and jobs
- Peace – developed countries are more peaceful than developing ones
Commitment to Development Index Measures
- Aid
- Investment
- Trade
- Migration
- Environment
- Security
- Technology
- Health
International Legal Framework for Development
- 2002 Monterrey Consensus – endorsed 0.7% of GNI
- 2008 Doha Declaration – reaffirmed 0.7% target
- 2015 Addis Ababa Action Agenda – reaffirmed 0.7% target with increased transparency through new reporting mechanism
- 2030 Agenda – reaffirmed 0.7% target and introduced target for 0.15-0.2% of ODA to go to Least Developed Countries
Cosmopolitan Framework for Aid
- % of GNI given in aid – 0.7% needed to ensure developing economies reach desirable growth rates
- % of GNI given to Least Developed Countries – need to provide more to LDCs (0.15%) as they are unlikely to receive Foreign Direct Investment
- % of ODA untied and given as grants – untied aid is more cost efficient and increases local employment and expertise; grants remove the risk for debt traps and reduces costs
Realist Framework for Aid
- % of GNI given in aid – states should determine this based on their own self interest; no external target should exist
- % of GNI given to Least Developed Countries – states should determine this based on their own security and economic interests
- % of ODA untied and given as grants – states should seek a return on investment so should use tied aid and loans
Washington Consensus - Realist Approach to Poverty Alleviation
- Low government borrowing
- Investment into healthcare, education and infrastructure
- Lower marginal tax rates
- Trade liberalisation → states should focus on areas which they have a comparative advantage
- Privatisation of state enterprises
- Deregulation
- Liberalisation of foreign investment
Stockholm Consensus - Cosmopolitan Approach to Poverty Alleviation
- Growth is a means to achieve health, education, employment, security and consumption objectives
- Development needs to be inclusive
- Environmental sustainability
- Balance between market, state and community
- Market regulation
- Investment into infrastructure
- Manage impact of technology and inequality
- Strategies need to be tailored to societal values
- Need framework for trade and migration
Sustainable Development (Cosmopolitan Approach)
- Growth is necessary but not at a cost to future generations
- Need to reduce the amount of natural resources, energy and waste consumed per unit of GDP
- Need for intra- and inter-generational equity
Economic Growth (Realist Approach)
- Increased growth → increased employment → increased incomes → increased living standards and access to goods and services
Sustainable Development Report 2022
- For the second year in a row, the world is no longer making progress on the SDGs, partly due to slow/no recovery in poor and vulnerable countries
- Goals 1 and 8 are below pre-pandemic levels in many LICs and LMICs
- Between 2015-19, progress was made at a rate of 0.5 points/year; too slow to reach the 2030 goals
o Poorer countries also made bigger gains than richer countries - Poorest half of the world lacks market access to capital on acceptable terms → need support from G20 and Multilateral Development Banks (IMF and World Bank)
Achievement of SDGs
o Only Goals 12 and 13 are on track in LICs
o Percentage of women in parliament increase 22% (2015) to 26%
Lack of Achievement of SDGs
o 93m more people in extreme poverty (2020)
o Drop in immunisation coverage for the first time in a decade – increase of 3.7m children missing vaccines
o Rise in deaths from tuberculosis and malaria
o >24m learners are at risk of never returning to school
o ¼ of the global population are in conflict affected countries
o 100m people are forcibly displaced
o Most progress on Goal 9 (8.6%)
o Goals 12 and 15 are heading backwards
o 1/10 suffer from hunger
o Disaster related deaths increase sixfold (2020)
o 160m children in danger of child labour
Impact of IMF on SDGs
- Expanded financial support – 50% increase to limits to concessional loans, and permanent 0% interest in Rapid Credit Facility loans
- Assessing the additional spending required to reach SDGs in education, health, water and sanitation, road and electricity
- New Platform for Collaboration on Tax
- Infrastructure Policy Support Initiative
- Supporting institution building, outcome monitoring and coordination in fragile states
Effectiveness of IMF Response to SDGs
- Updates approach to align with SDGs – expanded vision of development being more than economic growth
- Acted quickly in response to COVID – focused debt relief on poorest state → increased availability for governments to support citizens rather than service debt
- Influence G20 to provide debt relief
Ineffectiveness of IMF Response to Covid 19
- Unable to influence vaccine distribution – need to bring health crisis under control to reduce economic impact
- Still required austerity in Ecuador → reduced government payments, especially in healthcare
- Increased V.A.T. in Nigeria when 27% were unemployed → reduced standard of living
- Unable to prevent 93m extra people entering extreme poverty due to COVID
Effectiveness of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
- Unanimous acceptance from 193 member states
- Sees development as holistic with poverty reduction, equality and sustainability as focus areas
- Negotiated by all countries, as well as stakeholders, business, unions, volunteer organisations, development NGOs and academia
- Supported by TNCs
- Endorses 0.7% of GNI as ODA target, and 0.15-0.2% target for LDCs
- Voluntary National Review: mechanism for follow up and review
