Ethics and World Politics [Paperback]

Duncan Bell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 20, 2010

Ideal for courses in international relations and political theory, Ethics and World Politics explores the ethical dimensions of some of the most complex problems in world politics. Drawing together distinguished scholars from around the world, this cutting-edge text provides unique coverage of numerous approaches and issues.

To help break down the material and make it more accessible to students, editor Duncan Bell divides the text into three parts:

* Part I: Methods and Political Theory covers the different methods and approaches employed to study the subject including analytical political theory, post-structuralism, and critical theory.

* Part II: General Perspectives surveys some of the most prominent perspectives on global ethics including cosmopolitanism, communitarianism of various kinds, theories of international society, realism, postcolonialism, feminism, and green political thought.

* Part III: Themes presents numerous case studies, helping students to link concrete examples to general theoretical discussions. It examines a variety of more specific issues, including immigration, democracy, human rights, the just war tradition and its critics, international law, and global poverty and inequality.

Ethics and World Politics is supported by a Companion Website that provides students with additional case studies, a glossary, and useful weblinks. The website also offers PowerPoint-based lecture slides for instructors.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This excellent volume explores many of the most important ethical dilemmas in world politics; provides a reliable and carefully organized guide to the diverse, and often conflicting, ways in which they have been addressed; and draws on the insights of a high-quality range of contributors. A highly recommended text for all those involved in teaching courses on ethics in world politics."--Andrew Hurrell, Oxford University

"Useful to both students and advanced scholars, this is a superb collection of essays by major contemporary thinkers in international politics and political theory. The essays offer innovative readings of both familiar modes of international relations thinking (e.g. Realism) and more recent ones (e.g. Critical Theory). Although sophisticated, each chapter is clearly written and organized, with many down-to-earth examples complementing the theoretical analysis. This is quite simply the best single volume now available for use in courses on international relations theory and international political thought. Highly recommended!"--William E. Scheuerman, Indiana University

"Ethics and World Politics is the leading interdisciplinary introduction to justice beyond borders. Global poverty and inequality, democracy, war, terrorism, human rights, military intervention, immigration, national identity, and other vital issues are explored by some of our leading authors. The dominant theoretical frameworks for debating these topics are explained with unusual clarity. This is an excellent text for students working at the intersection of Politics, International Relations, and Philosophy on some of the most crucial questions in the world."--Leif Wenar, Kings College London

"A fabulously clear and comprehensive introduction to the issues, Ethics and Global Politics reaches past the partisan, conceptual divides that characterize "the literature" (normative versus descriptive, realism versus idealism, continental versus analytical approaches, political theory versus International Relations) and shines a light on such sadly overlooked questions as the inequitable patterns of global suffering, the problem of international and post-colonial inequality, and the politics of human rights. This volume's refreshingly value-laden account of how politics works in global settings will be especially useful to those new to the field and to those who teach them."--Bonnie Honig, Sarah Rebecca Roland, Northwestern University

"How am I to act in a world of increasingly close contact and interdependence? Should I become a vegetarian as a way to decrease global inequality? What do we owe each other if the boundaries of our moral concern are no longer co-terminus with political boundaries? Should I oppose all war as a violation of human rights or champion humanitarian intervention as a way to promote democracy and human rights? The authors of these essays don't give us the answers to these questions so much as give us the tools to reason about both the questions and possible answers. The essays in Ethics and World Politics provide an important resource: the background to understand the complex world we face and competing ways--from highly qualified and diverse contributors--to think through the urgent problems that humanity now faces."--Neta C. Crawford, author of Argument and Change in World Politics (2002)

About the Author

Duncan Bell is Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Christ's College.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 20, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0199548625
• ISBN-13: 978-0199548620
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #312,755 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)