Ethical issues and Debates: Ethics

Question 1

International Society?

Answer 1

Refers to a notion of a ‘society of states’ in which law, order and cooperation are the basis of interaction and that states work towards achieving common ideals and goals. The extent to which a functioning and effective international society exists is contentious.

Question 2

International Law-

Answer 2

Refers to legally binding rules that govern relations among states and that increasingly provide rights for individuals in the states.

Question 3

Justice-

Answer 3

Refers to a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, law, fairness and equity that, importantly, also seeks punishment when said ethics are breached. Justice extends to Global Politics through International Systems of Justice, such as the ICC and the ICJ, which seek to uphold international law and deter future violations.

Question 4

Ethics-

Answer 4

Is a branch of moral philosophy that addresses questions about morality, such as good and evil, right and wrong. Ethics extends to global politics on the basis that a common humanity binds all human being s, which extends beyond individuals in states to the world as a whole. Ethics are important to understanding global politics because they help to guide the actions taken by global actors.

• Ethics is the evaluative study of what actors on the global political stage ought to do, rather than descriptive study of what they have done or are doing.
• This concept compels certain actions on behalf of the global political community.
• Ethics guide individual states ‘national interests’, the ‘global interest’ and the notions of international justice.

Question 5

Globalisation and Ethics

Answer 5

Globalisation has facilitated transformations in communications technology and raising awareness of injustices, as well as aiding the capacity of the Western world to support those outside their own borders and communities.

• The rise of third agenda issues has intensified debate over our duties to those outside our own socio-political communities because the very nature of these issues necessitates that states work together to find common solutions.
• Globalisation has increased “the scope and intensity of our ethical obligations because it increases interconnections between communities, it also increases the varieties of ways in which communities can harm each other.”

Question 6

International Society

Answer 6

There are arguments that an international society is being created.
• The ever-increasing body of international law would also suggest that this could be the case.

• For every instance of effective international cooperation, there are just as many other cases where the response falls far short of expectations.
• Why some responses are effective and other ineffective depends on the extent to which the states national interests intersects with the ethical issue at stake.

Question 7

Global Ethical Philosophies

Answer 7

There are a number of perspectives on how the global political arena should respond to ethical issues.

Question 8

Global Ethical Philosophies

Realist School?

Answer 8

Argues that the global political arena is made up of individual states, each with their own standards and no obligation to one another or common morality.

((This perspective promotes the idea that there exists no fundamental moral necessity on states to respond to international ethical issues)))

(((And any response to a global ethical issue should be wholly or partly guided by what is in that states own national interest, where actions best serving the state should be prioritized over moral requirements)))

• “A foreign policy guided by Universal moral principles…is under contemporary conditions…a policy of national suicide”- Hans Morgenthau.
• Aid for example would only be provided with strings attached.

Question 9

Global Ethical Philosophies

Pluralist School?

Answer 9

Argues that the global political arena is made up of separate communities, each with some shared interests and standards.

((This perspective reflects the notion that often states will work together when states have something in common, or when a third agenda issue requires multilateral interaction and resolution.)))

(((This theory emphasizes that bilateral and multilateral engagement is entered into in a pragmatic effort to resolve a regional or proximate issue, where such resolution is perceived to be in the national interest of each state respectively.)))

• “A world of diversity in which the variety of national cultures finds expression in different sets of citizenship rights, and different schemes of social justice, in each community”-Miller
• States work together when states have something in common, or regarding common multilateral issues

Question 10

Global Ethical Philosophies

Cosmopolitan School?

Answer 10

Argues that humanity is one single moral community regardless of state, culture or levels of economic development, and thus the same rules apply to all humans and all are treated equally.

(((This perspective posits that there exists a universal framework of morality, rights and liberties; and suggests that any crises in the global political arena affects all of humanity collectively)))

(((Consequently, responsibility falls on all states equally to put aside their respective national interests and participate in the attempted resolution of such crises for the common global interest)))

• “We should recognise humanity wherever it occurs, and give its fundamental ingredients, reason and moral capacity, our first allegiance.”
• A crisis to a person in the world affects everyone and is the responsibility of all states.

Question 11

Ethics Relating to Ethical Issues of Unit 4 AOS 1?

Answer 11

The issues of human rights and people movement reflect the increasing interconnectedness of the world and the growth in problems which face the world as a whole.

• Such problems require resolution driven by the global community, and if they are to be resolved, demand increasing cooperation among the actors of the global political arena.
• A gulf remains between the aspirational desires of the IC to act effectively and its actual ability to do so.

 It is this gulf which helps to explain the range of effectiveness in responses by global actors to ethical issues.