Ethics and International Relations - Coursework Example

Ethics & International Relations Table of Contents Introduction Concept of Ethics Literature Review International Relations Theory and Ethics Conclusion Introduction International politics is a vast arena. It covers almost all aspects of diplomacy. From wars to revolutions, international human rights to international trade. It is important to understand international relations theory to make sense of international politics. International relations theory is combination of various aspects of international politics. It not only describes various aspects of international politics but it also imposes its own perspective. It is necessary to know all the stories of international politics to comprehend IR theory. These stories are actually related to different philosophies like realism, idealism, globalization and so on. 1These myths describe many things some may look reasonable and easy to understand whereas others may not look logical. But all these myths and narrative whether reasonable or not help us to understand the big games played between big powers. These myths also indicate that events taking place around the world are ethical and moral. These myths can also answer this important question: Can International Relations theory ever be truly ethical? Concept of Ethics Generally it is said that whatever rules of fair play are taught by religion and traditional values of society are called ethics. It is important to understand the comprehensive definition of ethics. A complete clarity about what ethics or morality is necessary since there are many confusing views presented by some philosophers. The modern views about ethics clarify much confusion. The modern views are: It is not necessary that ethics may be dictated by religions. It should not be contrary to realities of life. It is also not necessarily related to culture or society in some situations. Ethics actually tells how to live a successful but fair life by safeguarding one’s interests without harming others interests. Although it is debatable that what exact range should ethics cover. But majority of scholars agrees that it should be related to the particular concepts like vice, benefit, disgrace, obligation, duty, virtue etc. Many people look for ethical teachings in religion and tradition. But in contemporary world, these sources may not provide adequate answers. If they provide answers then they become controversial because of different interpretations. Similarly, culture also can not provide complete ethical answers in various situations. If the culture of a nation gives one interpretation then it is quite possible that culture of other nation may contradict it. But it is also true that most of the cultures have many common points to be agreed on. Almost all cultures accept and preach the common virtues like truth, honesty, steadfastness etc. It is therefore necessary to evolve a universal ethical theory. 2The universal values can take varied cultural forms in various places. Other ethical concepts can prove to be universal in reach but are presently argumentative. Scholars and intellectuals are busy in defining a universal code of ethics that may be accepted by majority of nations if not all. A famous scholar of IR thinks that culture is one of difficult words of language. It seems that everybody understand the term culture but none can define it comprehensively. This confusion with the definition of culture continues on international level. The talk about culture leads to usual debate within nations. Such debates never end, they continue at various levels and can not be concluded. If it can not be decided that what is culture then it is quite difficult to evolve a universal code of ethics on the basis of cultural values. That is why another renowned scholar that culture can not be restricted to few things like novels and paintings or comics. It is a set of practices the symbolic practices It can be easily said that IR theory is actually combination of cultural practices and their interaction. While studying IR theories as set of cultural practices and interactions, it would be easy to understand the international politics and its contradictions. IR theory also helps to understand these cultural stories in the perspective of international politics. Ideological background of nations also helps in cultural practices and thus makes IR theory more relevant. Ideologies of different nations can be easily defined. The international politics greatly depends upon ideological practices. International Relations Theory and Ethics As it has been discussed in the beginning, that International theory is a combination of myths of international politics. But these myths have to be true. 3So, the IR myths that are true in most cases can be called the basic units of IR theory. These true myths tell in detail about the various events of international politics. The first and agreed condition of ethics, the truth is thus incorporated in IR theory in most cases. Let us consider few examples that are used for being used as slogans for achieving the interests of major powers. The violation of Human Rights is the most important slogan used by western world to condemn their rivals. This slogan is not only used to condemns them but sometimes it is also used for imposing sanctions and even resorting to low level attacks and wars. The world is very informed now because of powerful media whether this information is correct or manipulated. But almost every well-informed citizen of the world know that major powers have double standards in terms of ethics in international relations. The human Rights violation by Russia in Chechnya is condemned by US but the violations in other parts of world done by allies is ignored. This clearly indicates the duplicity in international politics. The US can not be blamed alone for this type of duplicity many other nations are also involved in the similar practice. This myth of IR clearly indicates that ethics in real terms is certainly ignored in international politics. Whereas idealists feel that the nations should tell each other about their success stories and become straightforward in their policies so that chances of international conflicts may be reduced. This idea sounds very attractive but in real terms, it is very difficult to practice. While taking together, mainstream IR theory makes sense of the world by focusing on Human Rights Violations, and diplomatic practice in ways that draw on a particularly biased way of thinking about place, race, and. Conclusion Ideally, it seems difficult to separate the question of ethics from that of the political community. In a world of varied loyalties and alignments, the moral problems of the individual and nations are a source of distress and anxiety. These problems are often tackled by resorting to violence. Just because no one knows how to tackle them. The main reason is people often ignore rights of others in this pragmatic world just for the sake of their own petty interests. On the higher level nations, also have similar practices in international politics. Almost every nation in the world try to tackle their rivals by ignoring ethical values. They are just interested in getting their desired goals. Whether their petty interests are extremely harmful for other nations or countries. They just keep on pursuing their interests without considering the rights and interests of others. Just take example of globalization. Major economic powers are pressing the small countries for accepting the terms of WTO. These major powers also support their multinational corporations to get market share in developing countries. This support is so vigorous that it does not consider ethics. It shows that ethics or moral values have just no considerations. After going through all the arguments given above it can be said, that IR theory can not be ethical in most cases. However, if a comprehensive universal code of ethics is evolved in future and all nations rectify it then it can be said that IR theory may become ethical. Reference/Bibliography Attfield, R. & Wilkins, B. (Eds.). (1992). International Justice and the Third World: Studies in the Philosophy of Development. New York: Routledge. Bartelson, J. (2001). Baxter, B. (2004). A Theory of Ecological Justice. New York: Routledge. Coicaud, J. & Warner, D. (Eds.). (2001). Ethics and International Affairs : Extent and Limits /. New York: United Nations University Press. Friedrichs, J. (2004). European Approaches to International Relations Theory: A House with Many Mansions. New York: Routledge. Hollenbach, D. S. (2002). The Common Good and Christian Ethics. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Laclau, E., 1994, “Introduction”, in The Making of Political Identities, ed. La clau, E. London and New York: Verso, p. 5. Nye, J. S. (2004). Power in the Global Information Age: From Realism to Globalization. New York: Routledge. Rengger, N. J. (2000). International Relations, Political Theory, and the Problem of Order: Beyond International Relations Theory?. London: Routledge. Reus-Smit, C. (1999). The Moral Purpose of the State: Culture, Social Identity, and Institutional Rationality in International Relations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Rosenthal, J. H. (2004). Ethics and Statecraft: The Moral Dimension of International Affairs (C. J. Nolan, Ed.). Westport, CT: Praeger. Shapcott, R. (2001). Justice, Community, and Dialogue in International Relations. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Smith, M. J., 1997, ‘Growing Up with Just and Unjust Wars: An Appreciation’, Ethics and International Affairs, Vol. 11, pp. 3–18 Smith, M. J., 1998, ‘Humanitarian Intervention: An Overview of the Ethical Issues’, Ethics and International Affairs, Vol. 12, pp. 63–80. Shaw, M. (Ed.). (1999). Politics and Globalisation: Knowledge, Ethics, and Agency. London: Routledge. Smith, K. E. & Light, M. (Eds.). (2001). Ethics and Foreign Policy. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. Weber, C. (2005). International Relations Theory: A Critical Introduction (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. Read More