Rights and Obligations in North-South Relations: Ethical Dimensions of Global Problems PDF
Preview Rights and Obligations in North-South Relations: Ethical Dimensions of Global Problems
RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS IN NORTH-SOUTH RELATIONS Rights and Obligations in North-South Relations Ethical Dimensions 0/ Global Problems Edited by Moorhead Wright Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 978-1-349-07776-2 ISBN 978-1-349-07774-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-07774-8 © Moorhead Wright, 1986 Softcover reprint of the hardcover I st edition 1986 All rights reserved. For infonnation, write: Scholarly & Reference Division, St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 First published in the United States of America in 1986 ISBN 978-0-312-68234-7 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Main entry under title: Rights and obligations in north-south relations. Bibliography: p. Includes index. I. Developing countries-Foreign relations-Moral and ethical aspects. 2. Developing countries--Foreign economic relations-Moral and ethical aspects. 3. International economic relations--Moral and ethical aspects. I. Wright, Moorhead. 11. Title. JXI391.R53 1985 172'4 85-22212 ISBN 978-0-312-68234-7 Contents Notes on the Contributors Vll Preface lX Introduction 1 Human Rights and the Diversity of Morals: A Philosophical Analysis of Rights and Obligations in the Global System A. J. M. Mi/ne 8 2 Europe and the World: The Imperial Record V. G. Kiernan 34 3 Economics and Ethics in the Development of Natural Resources A. I. MacBean 61 4 The Ethics of Foreign Aid H. W. Singer 84 5 International Sanctions: Ethical and Practical Perspectives Margaret Doxey 101 6 Non-intervention: Ethical 'Rules of Disregard' and Third W orld Conflicts S. C. Nolutshungu 131 7 Confrontation or Community? The Evolving Institutional Framework of North-South Relations Jane Davis 159 Index 189 v Notes on the Contributors Jane Davis is a Lecturer in International Politics at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. She contributes a chapter on defence organizations and developments to The Annual Register and is writing a general survey of third-world conflicts, which together with international organization is her main teaching field. Margaret Doxey is Professor of Political Studies at Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. Her Economic Sanctions and International Enforcement, now in its second edition, is widely regarded as the standard work in the field. v. G. Kiernan is Emeritus Professor of Modern History at the University of Edinburgh. His books include Lords of Human Kind, European Empires from Conquest to Collapse and Marxism and Imperialism. A. I. MacBean is Professor of Economics at the University of Lancaster. He has been an economic adviser in the Ministry of Overseas Development, a member of the Harvard Economic Advisory Service in Pakistan, and a consultant for a variety of organizations. His publications include Export Instability and Economic Development and (as co-author) Meeting the Third World Challenge. A. J. M. MilDe is Professor of Politics at the University of Durharn. He is the author of The Sodal Philosophy of English Idealism, Freedom and Rights and The Right to Dissent: Issues in Political Philosophy. s. C. Nolutshungu is a Lecturer in Govemment at the University of Manchester. Among his publications are Changing Soufh Africa and South Africa. VII Vlll Notes on the Contributors H. W. Singer is Emeritus Professor at the Institute ofDevelopment Studies, University of Sussex. He spent twenty-two years with the United Nations and has had wide experience as'a consultant for such organizations as F AO, UNIDO, UNCTA D and UNICEF. His many publications include Rich and Poor Countries, The Strategy of International Development and Technologies for Basic Needs. Moorhead Wright, editor, is a Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, specializ ing in the ethical and philosophical problems of the subject. He has edited Theory and Practice ofthe Balance of Power, 1486-1914 and co-edited American Thinking about Peace and War. Preface The global situation has been characterized in recent years byan ever-widening gap between rich and poor countries with a corresponding growth in awareness of the need for a North-South dialogue. The failure of this dialogue to produce many concrete achievements has been due both to the complexity of the problems involved and the tendency for both sides to seek short-term political advantages. Demands by the developing countries for a New International Economic Order, for example, have met with litde sympathy among the industrialized nations, who see their traditional superiority threatened. These developments have prompted a considerable amount of scholarly literature on the ethical dimension of relations between developed and developing countries, but there has been no attempt to provide an overall survey of the moral problems presented by a wide variety of issues. This is the aim of the essays in this book which have been written by experts on their chosen topics and reflect a wide range of viewpoints. Theopening chapters provide the philosophical and historical background necessary to an under standing of the various ethical positions and arguments. Subsequent chapters tackle specific issues in current North-South relations and the institutional framework which has arisen to deal with them. Early drafts of six of the chapters were presented at an interdisciplinary conference sponsored by the Department of International Politics, University College ofWales, at the University of Wales Conference Centre, Gregynog Hall, near Newtown, Powys, 2-4 July 1984. The editor wishes to thank the British Academy for a travel grant which enabled Margaret Doxey to deliver her paper, the Advisory Board which administers the endowment associated with the Department's Woodrow Wilson Chair for financial support for the conference, Jane Davis and James Piscatori for their helpful suggestions at the planning stage, the warden and statT of Gregynog Hall for helping to make the conference such a pleasant occasion, and the other participants for IX x Prejace their lively and well-informed involvement in the discussions. In this last category special thanks are due to the late Professor Hedley BuH, who stepped in at the last minute to introduce and comment upon one of the papers with his usual acumen and wide-ranging know ledge. We dedicate the book to the memory of this outstanding scholar, respected colleague and good friend. M.W. Introduction Like East-West, North-South has become a dominant axis ofworld politics and has entered into the vocabulary of international relations as an academic discipline. Both expressions verge at times on diches and as such mask rather than reveal the complex realities of contemporary global politics. What is broadly true, however, is that the northern hemisphere contains a preponderance of relatively affluent countries, and the southern hemisphere contains the majority of the world's poor countries. More sophisticated groupings are, of course, used by agencies such as the WorId Bank in their W orId Development Reports, but the binary dassification has captured the public imagination and infiltrated the scholarly literature. In a long-term perspective the principal innovation wh ich the North -South division brings to world politics is the emergence of the relations between wealthy and poor countries as a key issue. The quest for power, privilege and security continues to be at the centre of international relations, but ethical questions have gained a new prominence as a consequence of the North-South division. The basic preconditions for both political and ethical issues - interdependence, moderate scarcity, and partially conflicting interests1 - exist in the contemporary world. The essays in this book explore these themes with regard to certain aspects of the relations between North and South. Justice requires equality of treatment in the sense of fair consideration in the allocation of powers and capabilities to individuals and groups. A just distribution does not imply equality of outcomes, but it must enable everyone to compete fairly for moderately scarce goods and to co-operate for mutual advantage. Capabilities together with entitlements are, as Amartya Sen has convincingly shown,2 the key to economic development, and from the ethical perspective we can argue that no one should be so deprived of entitlements and capabilities that he or she is unable to maintain a tolerable level of existence. The marked disparities between North and South in this respect give rise to claims ofjustice.
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