According to Aristotle’s virtue of ethics, one of the false courage is ignorance. Despite to the awareness of humanitarian distress by their government and the encouragement of legal actions, if the U.S. did not take action to intervene, they would have fallen under the category of ignorance. However, if the U.S. intervene without taking considerable measures, they would have fallen in the passion type of false courage. Therefore, a well-balanced observation of the possible outcome and what action to take will result in a virtue action. The application of Natural Law ethics’ Doctrine of Double Effect can be used as a means to determine the morally right action. The question of whether the action is permissible can be affirmed through the international
Ambassador to the United Nations serve to add ethos to her argument. Because of the “outside world’s refusal to intervene” during the Bosnian genocide, Power decided to explore “America’s responses to previous cases of mass slaughter” (XV). Throughout the book, Power argues that America was largely inactive in cases of genocide—she utilized several case studies, including the Armenian genocide, the Cambodian genocide, and the Rwandan genocide. These case studies are significant, as they proved a wide, varying degree of scenarios of genocide in which the United States chose not to act. This inaction is central to Power’s argument—she argues that America, due to various reasons, largely had a policy of inaction in cases of genocide.
Nuclear bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, not answering the call for help in Rwanda, allowing Germany to take over Czechoslovakia, supporting the creation of the state of Israel, giving out loans (with interest) to developing countries, and the creation of the United Nations are all forms of international interference and cooperation amongst states. When looking at these examples and many more, it begs the question, does morality play a role in international affairs of a state? George Kennan, a prominent Skeptic, would argue that in international politics “other criteria, sadder, more limited, more practical, must be allowed to prevail.”
The moral agencies in this paper are; Edward Snowden, N.S.A, the American People and the Leaders of the World. Edward Snowden acted in a manner associated with the Duty Theory due to the fact that his actions were morally right because it was his duty to reveal what was happening. The N.S.A. acted in a manner associated with the Unitarianism because they believed that they were acting in the best interest of the people. The American People were acting in a manner that is associated with the Virtue theories because they believe that the N.S.A. would ac in a character that is excellent, non-ethical and legal. The Leaders of the World is a unique situation because they operated in the two categories. The first is the Virtue
Lastly, if U.S. intervention in the prevention of human rights is based solely on other American interests, our world today will be a “world of crisis”, so to speak, because such crimes as genocide, crimes against humanity, violations of human rights and humanitarian law would be much more commonplace and no
Section one deals with the debates that surround the issues of humanitarian intervention and just war theory on the basis of international scale. One article by Holzgrefe is completely focused on the debate, stating the many ethical theories of many different theorists: from "utilitarianism; natural law; social contractrianism; communitarianism; and legal postivism" (7). Holzgrefe goes on to define what each ethical theorist is and their understanding of the debate on humanitarian intervention. However, there is the idea of when it is right to intervene and when intervention is unfavorable. The most interesting part was the third section of the article.
The debate of humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect have been discussed in international relations discourse more seriously within the last 60 years. The major historical developments which have led to an increase in the intensity of these debates have had beneficial and detrimental effects on Earth within the last 20 years. Several factors have contributed to this including; globalization, the rise in international accountability, an increase humanitarian consciousness to prevent major atrocities from occurring, the expansion of territorial to global responsibility of the western world, and the realization of the western world that regional sovereignty no longer accounts for national security. To develop an opinion
It is not only that moral principles are of limited use in the conduct of foreign affairs. It is also that the compulsion to see foreign policy in moral terms may have, with the noblest intentions, the most ghastly of consequences. – Arthur Schlesinger, “The Necessity of Amorality in Foreign Affairs,” 1971
Humanitarian intervention is certainly among the most debated topics of recent years in stately, organizational, and academic forums. The focal point of the controversy is the conflict between traditional ethics and practices of state sovereignty and newly accepted norms on the use of force for humanitarian resolutions. Despite the political and social disagreements between a given set of nation states, humanitarian intervention is now an adopted, international practice that demands intervention anytime a high percentage of the population (of any state) is at risk or under threat from their own authorities or those of another state.
Since the end of the Cold War, there are highly debated issues in regards to Humanitarian Intervention in the field of International Relations. It has been the legal right of external states to militarily intervene into the affairs of another state, when massive violations of fundamental human rights and genocide are violated, resulting in mass loss of life. The problem that arises with Humanitarian intervention is that it conflicts with the principle of Sovereignty. Although there has been numerous Humanitarian military interventions not all of these were with the legal consent of the United Nations (UN). The Realist and Liberalist have different views in regards to the matter of the right to intervene in relation to humanitarian issues. Cases such as Rwanada, Srebrenica and Libya highlighted the need for intervention for the protection of civilians and their right to protection. This essay will investigate whether forcible humanitarian intervention into the affairs of another state ever be justified.
With large scale wars becoming a thing of the past because of mutually assured destruction and costly wars, proxy wars in unstable states have become more and more common. Beginning in the Cold War with United States’ policies aimed at stopping the spread of communism began a trend of supplying military support for rebels that supported their ideas. This has translated to two large states backing differing sides of a faction in order to facilitate their national goals. For example, the United Nations, the United States leading, backing rebels in Libya against the Gaddafi Regime to stop genocide, the emergence of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine to return to Russia, and the United States backed Syrian rebels against the Russian-backed Assad regime to stop human atrocities. This raises the ethical dilemma of in what situations is the backing of rebels against a legitimate government the moral decision and when it is not. I will show in this paper that the United States supporting the Syrian rebels fight against the Syrian government is immoral using Utilitarianism.
Defending one's home, fighting against invaders, when they are attacking the state to preserve one's family and friends is an example of the application of these qualifications on the virtue of courage. Considering how this action affects the overall well being of others, we are considering how the action is generally just. In sum, the distinction being made here is that the same virtue can be seen all by itself, as a part of the character of an individual only, and where the virtue is in relation to another person in a particular political community, and its effects on the well being of others in that political community. We have the same state considered from different perspectives.
The United state is known as the Police of the world, the world super power which involves itself in numerous foreign affairs for multiple reasons. The choice to continue their involvement in these foreign affairs should be reconsidered. The United states’s involvement in various foreign affairs can be for a number of reasons and some of them may not be completely public. The politics that go into the decision can have a large background but it is still something that should be reconsidered in some situations.
In the study of International Relations there exists a number of different theories, each in which try to explain the role of America in foreign policy and world politics. This essay will work to explain the purpose of theories in foreign policy and the limits they have when they are applied to particular policies. President Barack Obama, for example, has come under sustained criticism regarding his foreign policy. Many have wondered whether Obama is a “realist” or “idealist” with his policy decisions. His foreign policy fails to strictly reflect either theoretical concept of international affairs. This is illustrated later in the current Syrian conflict and how Obama’s foreign policy is difficult to analyze from either perspective. International relations theories have been oversimplified, and the most effective foreign policy implemented in America today is not limited to one single perspective.
A growing discussion amongst IR scholars and International legal scholars alike has been the debate on if International law (IL) is really law especially since it lacks the basic characteristics of domestic law. Is international law a law just in name or in action also? If it is a law, do states obey this Law? And why will it be in the interest of a state to obey such law (if it does exist). This essay is an attempt to explain what IL is and to point out likely reasons why it is in a state interest to obey IL. This essay is drawn largely from work written by various scholars at different times to draw my conclusion
A growing discussion amongst IR scholars and International legal scholars alike has been the debate on if International law (IL) is really law especially since it lacks the basic characteristics of domestic law. Is international law a law just in name or in action also? If it is a law, do states obey this Law? And why will it be in the interest of a state to obey such law (if it does exist). This essay is an attempt to explain what IL is and to point out likely reasons why it is in a state interest to obey IL. This essay is drawn largely from work written by various scholars at different times to draw my conclusion