Ethics and International Relations

Objectives

1. To reflect on the nature of "ethics" and "politics" and well as on their interaction;

2. To identify, define and understand fundamental ethical principles and values in international relations;

3. To confront the main ethical theories regarding international relations;

4. To stimulate analytical and critical reflection about the different themes and ideas exposed;

5. To autonomously seek additional information, not only in reference literature, but also in the media and in online tools;

6. To promote a debate, developing the argumentative knowledge and skills.

Program

1. Ethics and Politics: concepts and foundations

1.1. Ethics, Morals, Law

1.2. The structure of moral conscience (teleological, deontological and procedural)

1.3. Moral universalism and cultural relativism

1.4. Ethics and Politics: historical and thematic perspectives

2. Ethics and International Relations

2.1. Ethics and Morality in International Relations

2.2. Ethics in International Relations: realism, morality of states and cosmopolitism

2.3. The proposal for an Ethic of Responsibility in International Relations

3. Issues and problems of international politics: a matter of ethics?

3.1. Poverty and Distributive Justice

3.2. Just War

3.3. Strategies for overcoming conflict

3.4. Humanitarian intervention

3.5. Terrorism

3.6. Citizenship, migration and borders

Teaching Methodologies

Classes combine a theoretical approach with reading, reflection and group discussion of some chosen texts.

The texts analyzed in class are previously provided to students, who must read them and critically analyze the issues at hand.

Bibliography

AMSTUTZ, M. R., International Ethics: concepts, theories, and cases in global politics, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Lanham, 1999.

BELL, D., Ethics and World Politics, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2010.

CANTO-SPERBER, M., La morale du monde, PUF, Paris, 2010.

HARBOUR, F. V., Thinking about International Ethics. Moral theory and cases from American foreign policy, Westview Press, Boulder, 1999.

NARDIN, T.; MAPEL, D R., Traditions of International Ethics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1992.

HOFFMAN, S, Duties Beyond Borders: on Limits and Possibilities of Ethical International Relations, Syracuse, N.Y., Syracue University Press, 1981.

RASMUSSEN, D, Universalism vs. Communitarianism. Contemporary Debates in Ethics, The MIT Press, Cambridge/Massachusetts/London/England, 1995.

ROSENTHAL, JH.; BARRY, C, eds., Ethics & International Affairs. A Reader, Georgetown University Press, Washington, D.C., 2009.

www.cceia.org.