Blog
Ecological Genocide in the Amazon: Raphael Lemkin and the Destruction of Human Groups
For most people, the word “genocide” likely evokes mental images of concentration camps, killing fields, and mass graves. Deforestation, no matter how severe, would seem to be only tenuously related, if at all.
Senator Menendez and the Narratives
Today, Senator Bob Menendez, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, unveiled a comprehensive report prepared by the Democratic staff of the committee, The Cost of Trump’s Foreign Policy: Damages and Consequences for U.S. and Global Security. As the Senator noted in his letter of transmittal, he “directed members of my staff, Lowell […]
Is Great Power Competition Ethical?
In the aftermath of Ali Wyne’s presentation on great power competition, I have had some people who have asked why the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs would focus on such a subject. After all, rivalry among major powers does not seem to be a template for ethical behavior, and runs the risk of […]
Searching for a Post-Pandemic Order
The Carnegie Council’s U.S. Global Engagement program held a fascinating and provocative discussion with Ali Wyne of the Atlantic Council, looking at the question of the relevance the narrative of great power competition among U.S. voters. Something that Ali said in that conversation has continued to resonate with me. In discussing great power competition, he […]
Will Consumers Pay More To Not Source from China?
Retailer H&M will stop relying on Chinese garment factories and suppliers located in Xinjiang, over concerns about the use of Uyghers as forced labor. The company will also end relationships with suppliers elsewhere in China that utilize forced labor or inputs from Xinjiang. It is not immediately clear if this will add costs to the […]
Drones and War: The Impact of Advancement in Military Technology on Just War Theory and the International Law of Armed Conflict
Since the first use of drones as lethal tools of war, certain pundits, politicians, and ethicists have argued for holding the use of drones to a different moral standard than conventional weapons.
Ecological Dimension of Foreign Policy
One of the emerging narratives about U.S. foreign policy is the use of climate change as the central organizing principle. Based on the assessment that environmental security engenders national security, this approach prioritizes efforts to project influence through solving or mitigating environmental problems–to make the U.S. safer from climate-enhanced threats, to build up a new […]
The Ethics of Non-Cooperation: Covid Vaccine Questions
One of the assumptions that Bill Gates, among others, made as the coronavirus pandemic burst onto the world this past spring was that the disease would force cooperation among nations, even among rivals and competitors. However, covid-19 arrived during a particular point of stress in global affairs–a situation that Damjan Krnjevic and I described under […]
