Article
Reforming the Security Council through a Code of Conduct: A Sisyphean Task?
In this feature, Bolarinwa Adediran disputes the utility of a code of conduct to regulate the exercise of the veto at the UN Security Council during humanitarian crises, arguing that such a code would not make any significant difference to the way mass atrocity crimes are addressed.
The Moral Limits of Territorial Claims in Antarctica
This article evaluates the moral weight of the initial territorial claims to Antarctica, which stand as a cornerstone of the Antarctic Treaty.
Threats and Coercive Diplomacy: An Ethical Analysis
Threats of armed force are frequently employed in international affairs, yet they have received little ethical scrutiny in their own right. This article addresses that deficit by examining how threats, taken as a speech act, require distinctive moral assessment.
Temporary Labor Migration within the EU as Structural Injustice
Temporary labor migration (TLM) constitutes a significant trend of migration movements within the European Union, yet it has received scant attention in normative migration debates. By drawing on Iris Marion Young’s conception of structural injustice, this paper analyzes the injustice of TLM within the EU.
Carbon Emissions, Stratospheric Aerosol Injection, and Unintended Harms
In this article, Christopher J. Preston compares the culpability for any unintended harms resulting from stratospheric aerosol injection versus culpability for the unintended harms already taking place due to carbon emissions. To make this comparison, both types of unintended harms are viewed through the lens of the doctrine of double effect.
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.”
