Coercion Cooperation And Ethics In International Relations

This volume brings together the recent essays of Richard Ned Lebow, one of the leading scholars of international relations and US foreign policy. Lebow's work has centred on the instrumental value of ethics in foreign policy decision making and the disastrous consequences which follow when ethical standards are flouted. Unlike most realists who have considered ethical considerations irrelevant in states' calculations of their national interest, Lebow has argued that self interest, and hence, national interest can only be formulated intelligently within a language of justice and morality. The essays here build on this pervasive theme in Lebow's work by presenting his substantive and compelling critique of strategies of deterrence and compellence, illustrating empirically and normatively how these strategies often produce results counter to those that are intended. The last section of the book, on counterfactuals, brings together another set of related articles which continue to probe the relationship between ethics and policy. They do so by exploring the contingency of events to suggest the subjective, and often self-fulfilling, nature of the frameworks we use to evaluate policy choices.

This collection offers a useful framework for thinking about America's role in the current world and the most efficient ways of translating American power into influence. A substantive overview of Lebow's views on ethics and foreign policy and the future of international relations theory, this book represents a major statement by a pre-eminent thinker.

Internationalism is the view that institution-building and peaceful cooperation will make peace and security prevail in a system of independent states. This book examines this controversial topic and discusses whether such a view is realistic or whether international relations are typically characterised by tension and war. Kjell Goldmann seeks to examine the plausibility of internationalism under present-day conditions. A theory of internationalism is outlined and is shown to have two dimensions: one coercive (to enforce the rules and decisions of international institutions) and one accommodative (to avoid confrontation by means of mutual understanding and compromise). Problematic features of the theory are then considered in detail: the assumption that all international cooperation tends to inhibit war, and the tension inherent in the joint pursuit of coercion and accommodation.

This volume offers a new dimension to realist theories about world politics. It questions both the theoretical and empirical foundations of much of traditional realist thought by offering realist-oriented analyses that emphasize the possibilities of cooperation and accommodation through agreement over common motivations and concerns. The articles in this volume demonstrate that moral considerations can and do play a significant role in shaping state behavior and that despair about the possibility of improving the systems and institutions within which we live is unwarranted. Specific points of normative convergence are raised in some detail, especially on issues of war, membership and authority, humanitarian concern and the social consequences of globalization. Three ethical concepts form the core of the 'realism reconsidered' argued for here, namely, the ideas of pluralism, rights and fairness.

Through an examination of the relationship between ethics and international coercion, The Sword of Justice compares the actual practice of the United States to the standards established by the just war framework. Historical cases are considered—from nuclear deterrence, conventional war and humanitarian intervention to covert action, economic sanctions and coercive diplomacy—analyzed from the perspective of the just war tradition to provide practical tools to improve the moral content of policy decisions. An enduring feature of the international system is the use or threat of force. The most systematic critique of this practice is found in the just war tradition, begun by Augustine and further elaborated by Aquinas. This book explores the relationship between ethics and international coercion by presenting historical case studies in which the United States has taken such measures to achieve their goals, and by comparing the actual practice of the United States to the standards established by the just war framework. Based on the comparison, a number of concrete recommendations are made about specific measures that could strengthen the moral content of policy decisions, and at the same time meet tests of political feasibility in the American system of government.

This book develops a concept of vulnerability in International Relations that allows for a profound rethinking of a core concept of international politics: means-ends rationality. It explores traditions that proffer a more complex and relational account of vulnerability.

This last one out of four volumes by Richard Ned Lebow in this book series focuses on various fields of social sciences and their connection to international politics. The author writes about topics in psychology, tragedy, and ethics. All of these fields are being put into relation with political aspects, especially international relations.

What kind of ethics in world politics is possible if there is no foundation for moral knowledge or global reality is at least complex and contingent? Furthermore, how can an ethics grapple with difference, a persistent and confounding feature for global politics? This book responds to the call for a bold and creative approach to ethics that avoids assuming or aspiring to universality, and instead prioritizes difference, complexity and uncertainty by turning to reflexivity, not as method or methodology, but as a practice of ethics for politics. This practice, ‘ethical reflexivity’, offers individuals, organizations and communities tools to recognize, interrogate and potentially change the stories they tell about politics—about constraints, notions of responsibility and visions of desirability. The benefits and limits of ethical reflexivity are investigated by the author, who engages writing on critique, rhetoric, affect and relationality, and carefully considers dominant and alternative framings of difficult issues in International Relations (IR)—the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, and the US policies of ‘enhanced interrogation’ and drone strikes. This path-breaking study provokes new possibilities for agency and action and contributes to a growing literature in IR on reflexivity by uniquely elaborating its promise as an ethics for politics, and by drawing on thinkers less utilized in discussions of reflexivity such as Hannah Arendt, Michel Foucault and Aristotle. This book will appeal to scholars and upper-level graduates in several sub-fields of IR, including international/global ethics, IR theory, global governance, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, foreign policy analysis and US foreign policy.