Ethics in the Domain of International Relations
[Relevant for Public Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude]
Ethics in the Domain of International Relations Introduction:
What is International Ethics?
International ethics refers to the goods that international interactions, exchanges, relations can bring to our planet earth and to all life forms and which can be harmed by unfriendly, hostile and uncooperative behaviors.
The UN has been promoting various principles of friendly and cooperative and peace-related humanitarian international actions by all the member countries. This community of nations which stands to respect other nations and their interests is itself harmed by the dominant nations. Various agencies of the United Nations by their presence and actions in various countries promote certain universal principles that transcendent the boundaries of individual nations and the ethical principles pursued by individual nations. International ethics is but not simply an ethic of some dominant country, it is not simply an ethic of a powerful country having obligation towards others because of the power they have over others. International ethics may be fruitfully defined at that which enables one to participate more actively in shaping and building good international community.
International ethics provides also with food for thought on what ought to be the nature and purpose of investing in international relations to build an international community. The challenges of international conflict have to be addressed with courage to embark upon studying what international community promotes and builds, whether perpetual peace and justice provided the much-needed foundation on the basis of which it can thrive and flourish.
International Space over Time
Nations and multinational organizations were the first ones to cross the boundaries of national domestic spheres to trade or interact with other nations and organizations. Every nation had its own focus. These were not regarded as shared problems that required joint action by all those affected by it.
Each country was largely responsible for problems occurring within it, guided and directed by its own government, culture, politics, legal system, institutions, etc. But over time, today we see more and more interconnections between people and nations. International ethics may be seen as responding to this need for international action.
International ethics guides international relations and resolution of international conflicts. International ethics guides the international environmental effort to fight against ozone depletion, etc.
International spaces have been filled with governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations having ownership and or control over issues and aspects that are central to life. There have been democratic governmental organizations and non-democratic governmental organizations interacting and operating in that space. There have been for-profit business corporations i.e. MNCs, TNCs, etc. and not-for-profit non-governmental organizations operating in the international space.
International spaces are filled with goods and services that are global commons, global public goods and services, collective goods and services that are owned or controlled by more than one individual organization that are central to human life. These spaces are low on individual collective power over nature and the social world, but are high on coalition of collective powers. Who is excluded from the international space and who is included in the international space and the reasons and rationality of those exclusions and our inclusions have a bearing on the expanding nature of the international space and the quality of international relations existing and of those continue to be built in it.
Recognizing the power that human collectives have over nature and economic and social goods and services in the international spaces, it is easier to see how different organizations may be working at counter-purposes and or competitive purposes. It is also easy to see how and why harms may be done by one against another and without any hope of international justice except those which are accepted as human rights. Many issues which have deep ethical implications are present in international spaces that we create or in which we participate in many different ways. International spheres or relations can easily thrive in a global system renewed constantly by greater levels of sensitivity to international ethics.
Size of the nation and the economy
The size of the nation in terms of population appears less of an influencing factor as the population is contained by migration policies inhibiting or prohibiting international movement in search of economic opportunities. This may be challenged in the future years. Nations with older generation and less younger generations will experience an imbalance and the need for labor. So, also nations with younger generations and less older generations. International policies favor government movement of talented and highly incapable population. Various levels of cultural exchanges also take place as people carry their culture. People move across national boundaries and their international overseas interaction and experience provides a dimension to international relations guided by international ethics.
The size of the economy is even more influential driver of international influence and relation. Particularly nations which have large export sectors or large import sectors are dependent on other economies for survival and growth and are vulnerable to development in the international space. For example, in August 2010, the press was full news about China becoming the second largest economy overtaking the Japanese economy which becomes the third largest. The rise of China was only a matter of time, but the size of its economy may not mean much for some time as China has large inequalities in income.
China is very distant second-place economic and military might to USA. A superpower no doubt with the highest population on earth, India not even in the top 20 countries yet and its economic size is less than that of the states like California in USA. It is likely that USA will do everything in its power to see that China does not come near to its strength. While pursuing friendly relations and cooperative relations with China, China is also likely to do everything in its power to see that India does not come near to its strength. There are other countries such as Brazil, South Africa, Russia etc. who are also growing. It is likely that we see more changes in the world order. If the international ethics pursued by dominant nations so far continues to hold or get imposed then we could likely to see new superpowers overshadowing and overtaking the influence of existing ones. If this is not to happen then there will be new ethics project floated by various interested parties and groups. The size of the economy and the size of the international exchanges i.e. trade and other interactions define the space for international relations, something which is good for two or more countries, increase their strategic interdependence on each other and strengthens them against outside competitive challenges and threats.
Competition between nations
Nations compete in the international space and national advantages are the drivers of the space of international ethics and what happens to it. National disadvantages will work against the expanded role of that nation while national advantages are likely to facilitate its expansion.
It is easier to grasp the international problems and the ethical issues associated with international problems when keeping the picture of various nations competing with one another for natural resources, competing for markets, competing for investment, competing for talent, competing for technology and education. Even competition for health and related services is not far behind. Nations which do not show potential for competitiveness appear to be left behind partly due to its own policies and political interest.
Dominant nations, their strategies appear to be the ones that are meeting any kind of success. Other nations are not so fortunate. The measures of success of a nation in international and global space is indicated by several indices such as the Freedom Index, Human Development Index, Happiness Index, the Human Capital Index, the Nature Capital Index, the Standard of Living Index, Ease of Doing Business Index, etc. These aspects along with other indices such as Poverty Index, the Inequality Index, Sustainability Index, etc. give a fairly good idea of competitiveness of a country compared to others. The wide difference between nations are causes for concern and it is also a driver as nations take domestic actions and international actions which are aimed at achieving improved ranking and positions compared to others. Most of these rankings have also come for their fair criticism as creation of western mind having a deep bias against the nations of the global south.
Nevertheless, competition is everywhere and nations have begun to learn from each other and are competing to be better nations with better government.
Competing for ecological system advantage
The impact of human activity primarily in terms of how they live and what economic activities they carry out in nature have been critically assessed by scientific establishment and which have been incorporated into national and international action and policy. Nations are competing for ecological system and advantages by doing what they believe will help the environment to preserve its natural capacity and vitality and which will secure for nations an ecological and economic advantage.
Philosophical reflections on the natural environment has truly become international and global along with its counterparts the social, cultural, economic and political philosophical reflections.
Almost every nation has wide vision plans for long term future envisaging the changes necessary say for 2030 or say for 2050 or say for 2100 which have domestic and international implications and effects. Such measures of goodwill are to be examined for what they are. Are such vision plans which have serious implications and effects for life on this planet, earth normative in any sense and what is the normative structure that follows and emerge from them?
Economic and social advantages are sought in terms of social equity within and between generations within a nation and across international boundaries. Ecological systems concerns offer advantages to various nations for their social and human well-being. Environmental or ecological ethics claims that the only way humanity can survive is by having a new concept of ecosystem ethics.
Interdependence, Cooperation and Collaboration
In the shadows of dominant countries, other nations have evolved certain international cooperation and collaboration agreements for a variety of reasons. It is simply to conceive of international ethics in the context of cooperation and collaboration as these are based on recognition of their mutual interest in each other. There may be several fields in which international cooperation has worked well and thus provides the basis for further cooperation and collaboration.
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