Moral Responsibility, Statecraft and Humanitarian Intervention

Moral Responsibility, Statecraft and Humanitarian Intervention PDF Author: Cathinka Vik
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317498984
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
This book explores the moral complexity of statecraft in the context of decision-making on armed intervention in the post-Cold War era. This book adds to the debate on humanitarian intervention by analyzing the moral complexity of statecraft when confronted with situations of severe human rights violations. Through a comparative case study of President Bill Clinton administration’s failure to intervene in the Rwanda genocide (1994), the George W. Bush administration’s tepid response to the Darfur atrocities (2003-07), and the Barack Obama administration’s leadership behind the limited U.N. intervention in Libya (2011), it explores the factors – domestic and international – that influence decision-making about humanitarian intervention. These cases show, not only how international moral concerns often compete with interest-based and domestic concerns, but how decision-makers are often confronted by competing moral imperatives. In such situations, it is often not clear which imperatives should be followed. In an increasingly interconnected world, this book examines how we expect state leaders to balance different moral responsibilities. This book will be of much interest to students of humanitarian intervention, the Responsibility to Protect, human rights, US foreign policy, African politics and IR in general.

Moral Responsibility, Statecraft and Humanitarian Intervention

Moral Responsibility, Statecraft and Humanitarian Intervention PDF Author: Cathinka Vik
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317498984
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 166

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book explores the moral complexity of statecraft in the context of decision-making on armed intervention in the post-Cold War era. This book adds to the debate on humanitarian intervention by analyzing the moral complexity of statecraft when confronted with situations of severe human rights violations. Through a comparative case study of President Bill Clinton administration’s failure to intervene in the Rwanda genocide (1994), the George W. Bush administration’s tepid response to the Darfur atrocities (2003-07), and the Barack Obama administration’s leadership behind the limited U.N. intervention in Libya (2011), it explores the factors – domestic and international – that influence decision-making about humanitarian intervention. These cases show, not only how international moral concerns often compete with interest-based and domestic concerns, but how decision-makers are often confronted by competing moral imperatives. In such situations, it is often not clear which imperatives should be followed. In an increasingly interconnected world, this book examines how we expect state leaders to balance different moral responsibilities. This book will be of much interest to students of humanitarian intervention, the Responsibility to Protect, human rights, US foreign policy, African politics and IR in general.

Ethics and Statecraft

Ethics and Statecraft PDF Author: Cathal J. Nolan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1440833419
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
This collection of essays cuts to the quick of the most pressing moral issues facing decision-makers today, from the actions of ordinary soldiers in a combat zone to presidents deciding when and where to use force. Ethics lie at the heart of human and therefore also international affairs, compelling nations to get involved "over there" and dedicate resources to intervention or to justify detachment. The politics and rhetoric of ethics constrain decision-makers, greatly complicating international situations. This third edition of Ethics and Statecraft addresses the moral reasoning behind the art of peacemaking as well as the ethics and statecraft of conducting war. The coverage ranges from historical transformations of whole eras of diplomatic and international history to issues of ethics of bombing and the laws of war. Specific attention is paid to emerging issues such as armed humanitarian intervention and sanctions, drone wars, war crimes, and economic justice. The work is ideally suited for undergraduate and graduate students of international relations, history, political science, and ethics. It will also be useful for NGO officials and military officers struggling with these issues in the field. General readers will find illumination of highly relevant historical issues—including Allied bombing of civilians during World War II—that set precedents for both expansion and limitations on the laws of war. They will also encounter pressing modern-day quandaries, such as the conditions that permit or even require military or humanitarian intervention, and the impact of new technologies on old moral problems.

Virtue Politics

Virtue Politics PDF Author: James Hankins
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674242521
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 769

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Book Description
Winner of the Helen and Howard Marraro Prize A Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year “Perhaps the greatest study ever written of Renaissance political thought.” —Jeffrey Collins, Times Literary Supplement “Magisterial...Hankins shows that the humanists’ obsession with character explains their surprising indifference to particular forms of government. If rulers lacked authentic virtue, they believed, it did not matter what institutions framed their power.” —Wall Street Journal “Puts the politics back into humanism in an extraordinarily deep and far-reaching way...For generations to come, all who write about the political thought of Italian humanism will have to refer to it; its influence will be...nothing less than transformative.” —Noel Malcolm, American Affairs “[A] masterpiece...It is only Hankins’s tireless exploration of forgotten documents...and extraordinary endeavors of editing, translation, and exposition that allow us to reconstruct—almost for the first time in 550 years—[the humanists’] three compelling arguments for why a strong moral character and habits of truth are vital for governing well. Yet they are as relevant to contemporary democracy in Britain, and in the United States, as to Machiavelli.” —Rory Stewart, Times Literary Supplement “The lessons for today are clear and profound.” —Robert D. Kaplan Convulsed by a civilizational crisis, the great thinkers of the Renaissance set out to reconceive the nature of society. Everywhere they saw problems. Corrupt and reckless tyrants sowing discord and ruling through fear; elites who prized wealth and status over the common good; religious leaders preoccupied with self-advancement while feuding armies waged endless wars. Their solution was at once simple and radical. “Men, not walls, make a city,” as Thucydides so memorably said. They would rebuild the fabric of society by transforming the moral character of its citizens. Soulcraft, they believed, was a precondition of successful statecraft. A landmark reappraisal of Renaissance political thought, Virtue Politics challenges the traditional narrative that looks to the Renaissance as the seedbed of modern republicanism and sees Machiavelli as its exemplary thinker. James Hankins reveals that what most concerned the humanists was not reforming institutions so much as shaping citizens. If character mattered more than laws, it would have to be nurtured through a new program of education they called the studia humanitatis: the precursor to our embattled humanities.

Economic Statecraft

Economic Statecraft PDF Author: Cécile Fabre
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780674988866
Category : POLITICAL SCIENCE
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
Leaders have used economic power as a tool of foreign policy since at least Pericles, whose trade sanctions against Megara helped to spark the Peloponnesian War. But as Cécile Fabre notes, philosophers have spent relatively little time thinking about the relevant ethics, especially compared with the time they have spent thinking about the ethics of war. Yet the moral questions raised by the use of economic statecraft are significant and complex. Fabre deploys a cosmopolitan theory of justice and the theory of justified harm to answer these questions, and concludes that political actors are morally entitled to resort to economic sanctions and conditional aid, but only as a means to protect human rights, and so long as the harms which they thereby inflict are not out of proportion to the goods they bring about. Moreover, they are morally entitled to resort to conditional lending and conditional debt forgiveness, not just with a view to protect human rights, but also, under certain conditions, to pursue other non-wrongful political goals.--

Statecraft as Soulcraft

Statecraft as Soulcraft PDF Author: George F. Will
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0671427342
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
George F. Will purports that the proper goals of statecraft, are justice, social cohesion, and national strength. Therefore, he urges the development of a "conservatism with a kindly face," capable of respecting private enterprise and at the same time espousing "an affirmative doctrine of the welfare state," which Will sees as "an embodiment of the wholesome ethic of common provision." Proper government involves the cultivation of good character in citizens. This is what is meant by statecraft as soulcraft.

Politics for Christians

Politics for Christians PDF Author: Francis J. Beckwith
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830869883
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
Politics is concerned with citizenship and the administration of justice--how communities are formed and governed. The role of Christians in the political process is hotly contested, but as citizens, Francis Beckwith argues, Christians have a rich heritage of sophisticated thought, as well as a genuine responsibility, to contribute to the shaping of public policy. In particular, Beckwith addresses the contention that Christians, or indeed religious citizens of any faith, should set aside their beliefs before they enter the public square. What role should religious citizens take in a liberal democracy? What is the proper separation of church and state? What place should be made for natural rights and the moral law within a secular state? This cogent introduction to political thought surveys political science, politics and government while making the case for how statecraft may genuinely contribute to soulcraft. Politics for Christians is part of The Christian Worldview Integration Series.

The Lessons of Tragedy

The Lessons of Tragedy PDF Author: Hal Brands
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300244924
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
A “brilliant” examination of American complacency and how it puts the nation’s—and the world’s—security at risk (The Wall Street Journal). The ancient Greeks hard-wired a tragic sensibility into their culture. By looking disaster squarely in the face, by understanding just how badly things could spiral out of control, they sought to create a communal sense of responsibility and courage—to spur citizens and their leaders to take the difficult actions necessary to avert such a fate. Today, after more than seventy years of great-power peace and a quarter-century of unrivaled global leadership, Americans have lost their sense of tragedy. They have forgotten that the descent into violence and war has been all too common throughout human history. This amnesia has become most pronounced just as Americans and the global order they created are coming under graver threat than at any time in decades. In a forceful argument that brims with historical sensibility and policy insights, two distinguished historians argue that a tragic sensibility is necessary if America and its allies are to address the dangers that menace the international order today. Tragedy may be commonplace, Brands and Edel argue, but it is not inevitable—so long as we regain an appreciation of the world’s tragic nature before it is too late. “Literate and lucid—sure to interest to readers of Fukuyama, Huntington, and similar authors as well as students of modern realpolitik.” —Kirkus Reviews

Perspectives on International Relations

Perspectives on International Relations PDF Author: Henry R. Nau
Publisher: CQ Press
ISBN: 1506396216
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 932

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Book Description
Perspectives on International Relations: Power, Institutions, and Ideas shows students new to the field how theories (perspectives) of international affairs—realism, liberalism, constructivism (identity), and critical theory—play a decisive role in explaining every-day debates about world affairs. Why, for example, do politicians and political scientists disagree about the causes of the ongoing conflict in Syria, even though they all have the same facts? Or, why do policymakers disagree about how to deal with North Korea when they are all equally well informed? The new Sixth Edition of this best-seller includes updates on Brexit, the rise of Donald Trump and other populist leaders, and continuing developments for ISIS, Syria, and Russia.

Neo-statecraft and Meta-geopolitics

Neo-statecraft and Meta-geopolitics PDF Author: Nayef R. F. Al-Rodhan
Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster
ISBN: 3643800061
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
This book proposes an innovative and comprehensive framework for conducting statecraft in the 21st century. Called neo-statecraft, this framework is based on the reconciliation of power, interests and justice. The author proposes four substrates of neo-statecraft: 1) a new structure he calls meta-geopolitics, which includes seven inter-related dimensions of state power and identifies a Geostrategic Tripwire Pivotal Corridor (TPC); 2) a sustainable national security paradigm that stresses the centrality of justice, symbiotic realism and transcultural synergy; 3) a new concept called just power, which states that power must be smart as well as just, and that global justice is above all a national interest of all states; and 4) a new concept called reconciliation statecraft of the eight global interests. Dr. Nayef R.F. Al-Rodhan is Senior Scholar in Geostrategy and Director of the Programme on the Geopolitical Implications of Globalisation and Transnational Security at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, Geneva, Switzerland. "This book offers a refreshing and ambitious re-examination of the nature of statecraft and geopolitics and contains a number of relevant concepts that can be translated into brand-new research and ambitious policy goals. Building on a number of his previous concepts, the author continues a remarkable endeavour aimed at updating and adapting traditional geopolitical perceptions. Step by step, brick after brick, the author is clearly building a major comprehensive contribution to strategic thinking and diplomacy." Professor Francois Gere, Director of Research at Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle and President of the French Institute for Strategic Analysis (IFAS), Paris, France. "This book provides a carefully crafted description of how the international system is being transformed and defines the challenges facing contemporary statecraft in handling that transformation. Nayef Al-Rodhan has undertaken this enormous task by defining the concept of meta-geopolitics and addressing potential future problems while making full use of the analytical tools that he has developed. It is a unique and intellectually courageous undertaking that will help us gain deeper insights into the many dimensions of current and future security challenges." Ambassador Rolf Ekeus, Chairman of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Stockholm, Sweden.

Systems, Stability, and Statecraft

Systems, Stability, and Statecraft PDF Author: P. Schroeder
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137061383
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 362

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Book Description
Few scholars have provided as much insight into the struggle of leaders, ideas, and policies as Paul W. Schroeder. Constantly challenging conventional views, and drawing upon a masterly command of the sources and literature, Schroeder provides new answers to old questions about international history and politics since the age of Napoleon. Were European international relations really driven by balance of power politics, or has that traditional view blinded us to an underlying normative consensus on the 'rules of the game' that frequently contributed to cooperation among the leading states in the system? Are alliances primarily a means of the aggregation of power against stronger states, or do states often use alliances as instruments of influence or control over their allies? Was World War I contingent upon a confluence of independent processes that intersected in 1914, or was it the product of more deeply-rooted and interconnected structural forces that pushed inevitably toward war? What is the role of moral judgment in historical investigation? Raising new questions and offering provocative new interpretations, Schroeder encourages historians and political scientists alike to reconsider their long-standing beliefs about the evolution and dynamics of modern diplomacy.