CURRENT ISSUE
Fall 2017 (Issue 31.3)
We are pleased to announce the publication of the Fall 2017 issue of Ethics & International Affairs! This issue contains essays by Amartya Sen on the foundations of global justice and Amitav Acharya on the multiplex world order; features by Jamie Gaskarth on rising powers and their conceptions of responsibility, Laura Hartman on the “playing God” critique of climate engineering, and Aidan Hehir on improving the responsibility to protect through legal reform; review essays by Chris Brown on global poverty and James Turner Johnson on the ethics of insurgency; and book reviews by Claire Finkelstein, João Nunes, Cheryl O’Brien, and Michael Zürn.
BLOG
The Perils of Virtue Signaling in Foreign Policy
Virtue signaling that is detached from achievable outcomes is an ethically-worse option.
ESSAYS
Ethics and the Foundation of Global Justice
Can the idea of justice be global in scope? In this essay, Amartya Sen challenges the dominant theories of justice in contemporary political philosophy, asserting that the pursuit of justice does not depend on the existence of a sovereign state.
BOOK REVIEWS
Lawfare: Law as a Weapon of War by Orde Kittrie
Orde Kittrie’s impressive new book describes the various uses of law to accomplish military aims in international affairs. It offers a systematic, detailed, and visionary synthesis and should be required reading for any military strategist or scholar of armed conflict.
Disease Diplomacy: International Norms and Global Health Security by Sara E. Davies, Adam Kamradt-Scott, and Simon Rushton
In Disease Diplomacy, the authors provide an empirically rich and theoretically sophisticated account of the reform of the International Health Regulations. The book also makes valuable contributions to academic debates on agenda-setting in global health and global health security.
When Norms Collide: Local Responses to Activism against Female Genital Mutilation and Early Marriage by Karisa Cloward
In this book, Karissa Cloward employs a mixed-methods study to examine the ways that local communities react to transnational activism and international norm promotion. In doing so, the author provides a blueprint for achieving meaningful change in advancing human rights and reducing violence against women.
FEATURES
Rising Powers, Responsibility, and International Society
This article examines statements made by rising powers Brazil, China, and India in UN Security Council meetings between 2011 and 2016 to identify their perspectives on which international actors are responsible and what constitutes responsible action. Gaskarth then analyzes these statements in light of English School theory on responsibility and international society.
Climate Engineering and the Playing God Critique
The “playing God” critique charges that humans should not undertake to control nature in ways that overstep the proper scope of human agency. In this article, Laura M. Hartman explores the way this critique is used with respect to geoengineering, and concludes that climate interventions should be based on contextual awareness and responsive, communal responsibility.
“Utopian in the Right Sense”: The Responsibility to Protect and the Logical Necessity of Reform
In this article, Aidan Hehir writes that claims made about the success of the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) echo the pejorative conceptions of “utopianism” as advanced by E. H. Carr and Ken Booth. In order to revive RtoP, Hehir suggests a potential reform of the existing international legal order that meets Carr’s preference for normative thinking that is “utopian in the right sense.”
