ABSTRACT

The goal of this book is to make the case that international interactions should be understood in ethical terms.1 International actors are generally concerned to act ethically and they take pains to point out the ethical flaws in the actions of others. They are sensitive to and concerned about the ethical criticisms of others. The argument is directed against a view, widely held by adherents of a number of different approaches to the subject, that we ought to understand these relations in terms of struggles for power (classical realism); the structural forces in play in the domain (structural realism and Marxist approaches); or in terms of the so-called ‘power/knowledge’ nexus that exists in various discourses constituting the field of international relations. Against these my contention is that international interactions are always ethically informed, but that this aspect is often hidden and not made apparent. I shall argue that bringing this aspect of our international interactions to light provides us with a more comprehensive, deeper and richer view of the field. Moreover, taking what one might call ‘the ethical turn’ also helps us understand the play of politics and power in a more nuanced way. Furthermore, an ethically informed understanding gives us a good account of what

is happening in international affairs and opens the way for the making of better policy choices. Part of the argument to be offered in this book is that the very act of analysing international affairs is itself an action, open to ethical evaluation. We can evaluate analyses of international affairs, such as the one presented in this book, in terms of whether they are ethical or not.