an article by Jens Steffek and Leonie Holthaus (Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany) published in European Journal of International Relations Volume 24 Issue 1 (March 2018)
Abstract
Welfare internationalism was and still is one of the most powerful justifications for establishing international organizations. It suggests that public international organizations should cater to the material needs of individuals, rather than solve conflicts among states.
In this article, we trace the origins of welfare internationalism, challenging the dominant narrative that depicts it as a projection of the British welfare state or the American New Deal to the globe.
We show that welfare internationalism emerged earlier and combined ideational elements of very different origins. Notions of professional colonial administration migrated to the international context and dovetailed with a cosmopolitan interpretation of 19th-century public unions as caretakers of citizen interests.
Reform socialist approaches to the social question inspired domestic and international developments simultaneously, leading to the foundation of the International Labour Organization, which became a crucial venue for the promulgation of welfare internationalism.
We thus document how international theorists and practitioners of the early 20th century established a new perspective on international affairs, emanating from individuals and their needs. That perspective came to rival the traditional conception of international politics as intergovernmentalism and delivered important building blocks for the (self-)legitimation of the League of Nations and the United Nations.
Showing posts with label global_institutions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label global_institutions. Show all posts
Monday, 2 April 2018
Thursday, 13 September 2012
The virtues in international society
an article by Jamie Gaskarth (University of Plymouth, UK) published in European Journal of International Relations Volume 18 Number 3 (September 2012)
Abstract
Although there has been a significant growth in the literature on the ethics of international politics in recent years, much of this has focused on the normative structure of international relations and has downplayed the role of individuals in constituting the understandings and actions in this practice.
However, individual agency and accountability are apparent in recent world events. Meanwhile, developments in moral philosophy have increasingly led scholars to re-examine the role that individual character traits – virtues – have in affecting how norms are selected and operationalised.
Building on these insights, I argue here that a fully realised appreciation of the morality of international politics requires us to consider what character traits – virtues – its individual participants are expected to exhibit to support and realise its norms.
To do so, I begin by outlining how the virtues are deemed to underpin ethical practice and highlight two forms of analysis that may be used to explore this: decision-oriented virtue ethics and constitutive virtue ethics. I then suggest that these can be used to analyse the ethical foundations of international society.
Specifically, I adopt a constitutive virtue ethics approach to show how the virtues help to constitute international society using the case study of the establishment of the International Criminal Court. In the process, I aim to highlight both the extent to which the virtues are a feature of the rhetoric of global politics, and – more importantly – how they play a significant role in normative practice.
Hazel’s comment:
In answer to the question about relevance of this article to careers information I have to say, “Not much”. However, as we are living in an increasingly globalised society, and given that many young people are becoming more concerned about ethical practices than former generations I thought it was at least interesting.
Abstract
Although there has been a significant growth in the literature on the ethics of international politics in recent years, much of this has focused on the normative structure of international relations and has downplayed the role of individuals in constituting the understandings and actions in this practice.
However, individual agency and accountability are apparent in recent world events. Meanwhile, developments in moral philosophy have increasingly led scholars to re-examine the role that individual character traits – virtues – have in affecting how norms are selected and operationalised.
Building on these insights, I argue here that a fully realised appreciation of the morality of international politics requires us to consider what character traits – virtues – its individual participants are expected to exhibit to support and realise its norms.
To do so, I begin by outlining how the virtues are deemed to underpin ethical practice and highlight two forms of analysis that may be used to explore this: decision-oriented virtue ethics and constitutive virtue ethics. I then suggest that these can be used to analyse the ethical foundations of international society.
Specifically, I adopt a constitutive virtue ethics approach to show how the virtues help to constitute international society using the case study of the establishment of the International Criminal Court. In the process, I aim to highlight both the extent to which the virtues are a feature of the rhetoric of global politics, and – more importantly – how they play a significant role in normative practice.
Hazel’s comment:
In answer to the question about relevance of this article to careers information I have to say, “Not much”. However, as we are living in an increasingly globalised society, and given that many young people are becoming more concerned about ethical practices than former generations I thought it was at least interesting.
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