International Ethics: A Critical Introduction

282 Pages·2010·0.891 MB·English

by  Richard Shapcott

International Ethics
For Miranda and Thomas
International
Ethics
A Critical Introduction
Richard Shapcott
Polity
Copyright © Richard Shapcott 2010
The right of Richard Shapcott to be identifi ed as Author of this Work has been
asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2010 by Polity Press
Polity Press
65 Bridge Street
Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK
Polity Press
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Malden, MA 02148, USA
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of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-3142-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-3143-1(pb)
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Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements vii
1 Introduction 1
2 Cosmopolitanism 14
3 Anti- cosmopolitanism 50
4 Hospitality: Entry and Membership 87
5 Humanitarianism and Mutual Aid 122
6 The Ethics of Harm: Violence and Just War 151
7 Impermissible Harms: Global Poverty and Global Justice 187
8 Conclusion 226
Notes 230
Bibliography 235
Index 254

Preface and
Acknowledgements
Twenty years ago there were few books dealing expressly with inter-
national ethics. Moral philosophers and political theorists paid only
scant attention to the ethical issues arising between communities, and
the discipline of international relations remained focused on the polit-
ical and strategic relations between states. However, with the advent
of globalization, moral philosophers and political theorists have
begun to focus their attention on the challenges of thinking ethically
on a global scale. As a result the international ethics literature has
grown steadily, such that there is now a need for a book that provides
a critical introduction, overview and evaluation of this literature.
This book has several purposes. It is intended to be explanatory,
analytical, evaluative and argumentative. It aims to cover the most
important aspects of international ethics in an introductory fashion.
The standard terms of reference and the standard debates in the fi eld
of international ethics as an academic and policy discipline will be
examined. As a critical introduction it also provides an assessment
of these debates and a refl ection on their strengths and weaknesses.
The overall aim is to provide the reader with a set of frameworks and
concepts with which he or she can situate and assess any number of
ethical challenges and solutions.
One of the most important things a book of this type can do is to
draw attention to the possible consequences or implications of dif-
ferent starting points. For this reason, the book attempts to show
what conclusion can be drawn from certain assumptions and what
certain positions or principles might mean in practice. It is only
once we have assessed or understood these conclusions that we can
viii PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
refl ect adequately upon our ethics and whether we think the costs of
our positions are worth it, or not, or whether they are justifi able or
need modifi cation. For instance, if a person believes simultaneously
in universal human rights and in some form of cultural relativism or
tolerance it is important to explore how, if at all, these values can be
reconciled and what that might mean in practice. It might not be easy
to reconcile a commitment to the equal rights of women or children
with certain cultural practices such as female circumcision. In these
instances we need to be clear about the nature of our ethical judge-
ments and their implications. Alternatively, if we advocate both a
global duty to alleviate poverty as expressed in the UN Millennium
goals, and at the same time wish to see the jobs of our selves or
fellow countrymen protected through tariffs and so on, we might fi nd
these goals in confl ict. Obviously, the most common assumption is
likely to be some notion that compatriots should always take moral
priority, that the well-b eing of our own people should take priority
over those of outsiders. This does not mean we wish ill to outsiders;
simply that we do not have to be too concerned with their welfare.
However, it could also mean that we are willing to see them suffer, or
indeed to infl ict harm upon them so that our compatriots can prosper.
Alternatively, if we do believe in human rights and, at the same time,
want to recognize legitimate cultural differences we then have to
assess how to balance those two values when they do confl ict.
So the task for the reader is to use this book to aid self-e xamination
and to think through for themselves what their starting assumptions
might lead to in certain circumstances and in relation to certain issues.
The book does not supply any answers to specifi c ethical dilemmas
but should be seen as an aid to that most important of tasks, thinking
for oneself.
As befi ts an expressly ethical book, there is no pretence about
taking an ‘objective’ position, though it does claim to be even-
handed. Thus, rather than deny the author’s own moral refl ections,
these are incorporated into the survey and analysis. For this reason,
the starting point for the ethical thinking in this book is that the argu-
ment for human equality favours some form of cosmopolitanism. (Of
course, this also rests on another argument, which is that all humans
ought to be treated as equal in moral terms.) In adopting a cosmo-
politan starting point, this book assumes that any ethical framework
that seeks to draw and enforce sharp lines between human beings
is not fully moral, or, to put it more positively, is not being moral
enough. However, this does not mean positions that draw boundaries
between human beings can be dismissed out of hand. So, while the
book is informed by the cosmopolitan position, this position itself