Articles
- Basic Moral Values: A Shared Core [Abstract]
| Frances V. Harbour | 12/03/1995
Without some form of objectivity, Harbour argues, there is no firm grounding other than taste for criticizing whatever constitutes another culture's values, or even for reforming one's own—and there is no firm grounding for moral objections to someone such as Hitler or Idi Amin. - The Uses of Tragedy: Reinhold Niebuhr's Theory of History and International Ethics [Abstract]
| Thomas W. Smith | 12/03/1995
As Smith points out, Reinhold Niebuhr's political ethic is closely linked to his philosophy of history. This view of history blends a dualistic understanding of human nature and rigorous contingency of experience - all sobered by a creative sense of tragedy. - Evaluating Democratic Progress: A Normative Theoretical Perspective [Abstract]
| Brad R. Roth | 12/03/1995
Roth argues that much of the current discourse on the diffusion of democratic norms is misleading and that only a realistic assessment of the progress of societies in transition will focus attention on the problems that remain to be solved. - International Deontology Defended: A Response to Russell Hardin [Abstract]
| Thomas Donaldson | 12/03/1995
Donaldson argues that agreeing with Hardin to banish deontological justifications from international discussion amounts to abandoning the power of deontology to interpret political intent and to establish hard limits on political behavior. - International Deontology [Abstract]
| Russell Hardin | 12/03/1995
Hardin discusses the forms that moral reasoning might take—from rationalist actor theory to Kantian proceduralism to ad hoc Kantianism—and the relation of Kant's dictum to the institutional nature of much of international affairs. - Humanitarian Intervention: Three Ethical Positions [Abstract]
| Pierre Laberge | 12/03/1995
LaBerge examines the ethical positions of Rawls, Kant, John Walzer adapted from J. S. Mill, and Canadian philosopher Howard Adelman are, and writes that they constitute "an ethics of human rights, ethics of the right to a historical community, and an ethics of peace." - Nuclear Proliferation and Nuclear Entitlement [Abstract]
| Steven P. Lee | 12/03/1995
In this essay Lee examines three questions:1) Is nuclear proliferation dangerous? (2) Is it morally permissible for a state to acquire nuclear weapons? (3) What are morally permissible actions for states trying to keep other states from acquiring nuclear weapons? - Prudent Statesmen: Truman, Kissinger, and Thatcher [Abstract]
| Alberto R. Coll | 12/03/1995
Review essay of "Diplomacy," by Henry Kissinger; "Truman," by David McCullough; and "The Downing Street Years," by Margaret Thatcher. - The United Nations and Global Security: The Norm is Mightier Than the Sword [Abstract]
| Michael N. Barnett | 12/03/1995
Barnett argues that the United Nations, by operating on the principle of the consent of the parties, can encourage the development of a more stable and cooperative security architecture. - The Rawlsian Theory of International Law [Abstract]
| Fernando R. Tesón | 12/03/1995
Teson critiques a recent article by John Rawls in which Rawls extends his acclaimed political theory to include international relations. - Intervention: From Theories to Cases [Full Text]
| J. Bryan Hehir | 12/03/1995
This lead-off piece examines the ethics of intervention in light of recent policy and academic debates on the subject.