Issue 36.1
Introduction: Moral Injury, Trauma, and War
In August 2021, the United States withdrew from Afghanistan, ending a twenty year war—the longest in American history. The past two decades of armed conflict, fought in complex environments among civilian populations, provided daily reminders of the ethical complexities of warfare. One concept that provides a promising path for reflection on such complexities is moral injury.
Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War
The concept of “forever war” has moved from the margins to the mainstream in recent years. In his important new book Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War, Samuel Moyn puts the law of armed conflict at the center of the forever war.
Briefly Noted: Oil Powers: A History of the U.S.–Saudi Alliance
Oil Powers: A History of the U.S.–Saudi Alliance, Victor McFarland (New York: Columbia University Press, 2020), 376 pp., cloth $140, paperback $35, eBook $34.99. Since its earliest days in the 1930s, the U.S.-Saudi alliance has in many ways been a marriage of opposites: In the beginning, it consisted of an industrial capitalist democracy—a global hegemon, […]
The “Third” United Nations: How a Knowledge Ecology Helps the UN Think
The United Nations is unique in its capacity to convene global discourse, particularly conversations to address global problems that humanity must face together. If the United Nations is to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, pandemics, and climate change,” as Tatiana Carayannis and Thomas G. Weiss put it in The “Third” United Nations, those conversations must succeed at identifying viable global solutions, and solutions that reflect reasonable consideration of perspectives of people all over the earth.
Delta Democracy: Pathways to Incremental Civic Revolution in Egypt and Beyond
Delta Democracy makes important contributions to scholarly literature and to our understanding of international development and foreign policy concerning the complex role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Egypt and elsewhere.
Spring 2022 (36.1)
The editors of Ethics & International Affairs are pleased to present the Spring 2022 issue of the journal! The highlight of this issue is a roundtable organized by Jesse Kirkpatrick on moral injury, trauma, and war, featuring contributions by Jesse Kirkpatrick; Daniel Rothenberg; and David Wood. Additionally, the issue includes a feature article by Yuna Han on the normative questions raised by universal jurisdiction, and a feature article by Megan Price on Sri Lanka’s challenge to the standing of international humanitarian law. The issue also contains a review essay by Deen Chatterjee on Amartya Sen’s memoir Home in the World, and book reviews by Mary Dudziak, Michael Struett, and James Ketterer.
Identity and Shared Humanity: Reflections on Amartya Sen’s Memoir
The concept and implications of our shared humanity are central to the questions of where we belong, who we are, and how we relate to others. This idea features prominently in Amartya Sen’s work and it runs through his recent memoir Home in the World. Sen’s memoir is a compelling read, giving a fascinating view of the making of a great mind, a Nobel Laureate in welfare economics who is one of the foremost public intellectuals of our time.