Ethics in International Affairs

Catalog description

In this seminar, we will grapple with the principal and very complex, occasionally oppositional, ethical challenges of past and current times—how to realize racial justice, gender equality, climate justice, and economic justice—through the lens of focus themes, including the justice of the use of violence, the right to resist oppression, the ethics of development, and the ethics of conservationism. This, clearly, is more difficult than it sounds. For instance, what is a “just” war? Can war ever be “just?” Is killing innocent civilians ever justified? What matters more – intentions or outcomes? Under what circumstances do we have a right—or even a moral duty—to intervene in the domestic affairs of another state? Is the promotion of democracy a new form of imperialism? Is torturing an individual ever justifiable? Where do human rights come from? Are they universal or may they be circumscribed by culture and religion? Should “culture” ever be allowed to limit the right of a woman to health care, education or control over her own body? Is slum tourism just another form of voyeuristic poverty porn or does it serve as a catalyst for urban regeneration? How can we measure the social impact on communities, positive and negative, of mass sports events? Is biodiversity protection another form of colonialism? A key objective of our seminar will be to question, challenge vigorously, and de-center the alleged universality, practicality or relevance of hegemonic Western approaches to Ethics and global justice issues, and center instead the voices and lived experiences of scholars and activists from Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.