CIAO DATE: 07/2008
Volume: 23, Issue: 2
Summer 2009
Ethical Competence in International Relations [Full Text]
Mervyn Frost
In order to participate effectively in international relations, this essay argues that international actors of all kinds, including states, international organizations, corporations, and individuals, have to acquire the skills necessary to protect freedom and diversity in the modern world.
The Global War on Terror: A Narrative in Need of a Rewrite [Full Text]
Amy Zalman, Jonathan Clarke
This essay focuses on how the global war on terror was constructed and how it has set down deep institutional roots both in government and popular culture. The war on terror represents an "extraordinarily powerful narrative," which must be rewritten in order to change policy dynamics.
Alexandra Gheciu, Jennifer Welsh
This collection of articles focuses on the ethical assumptions that underpin views of postwar reconstruction, in particular on the question of whether (and under what circumstances) outsiders can legitimately take over the reins of government.
The Imperative to Rebuild: Assessing the Normative Case for Postconflict Reconstruction [Abstract]
Alexandra Gheciu, Jennifer Welsh
The past two decades have witnessed the proliferation of comprehensive international missions of peacebuilding and reconstruction, aimed not simply at bringing conflict to an end but also at preventing its recurrence. Recent missions, ranging from relatively modest involvement to highly complex international administrations, have generated a debate about the rights and duties of international actors to reconstruct postconflict states. In view of the recent growth of such missions, and the serious challenges and crises that have plagued them, we seek in this article to address some of the gaps in the current literature and engage in a critical analysis of the moral purposes and dilemmas of reconstruction. More specifically, we construct a map for understanding and evaluating the different ethical imperatives advanced by those who attempt to rebuild war-torn societies. In our view, such a mapping exercise is a necessary step in any attempt to build a normative defense of postconflict reconstruction. The article proceeds in two stages: first, we present the various rationales for reconstruction offered by international actors, and systematize these into four different "logics"; second, we evaluate the implications and normative dilemmas generated by each logic.
Moral Responsibilities and the Conflicting Demands of Jus Post Bellum [Abstract]
Mark Evans
Recently, strong arguments have been offered for the inclusion of jus post bellum in just war theory. If this addition is indeed justified, it is plain that, due to the variety in types of post-conflict situation, the content of jus post bellum will necessarily vary. One instance when it looks as if it should become "extended" in its scope, ranging well beyond (for example) issues of "just peace terms," is when occupation of a defeated enemy is necessary. In this situation, this article argues that an engagement by jus post bellum with the morality of post-conflict reconstruction is unavoidable. However, the resulting extension of jus post bellum's stipulations threatens to generate conflict with another tenet that it would surely wish to endorse with respect to "just occupation," namely, that sovereignty or self-determination should be restored to the occupied people as soon as is reasonably possible. Hence, the action-guiding objective of the theory could become significantly problematized. The article concludes by considering whether this problem supports the claim that the addition of jus post bellum to just war theory is actually more problematic than its supporters have realized.
Just and Unjust Postwar Reconstruction: How Much External Interference Can Be Justified [Abstract]
Stefano Recchia
This article seeks to reconcile a fundamental normative tension that underlies most international reconstruction efforts in war-torn societies: on the one hand, substantial outside interference in the domestic affairs of such societies may seem desirable to secure political stability, set up inclusive governance structures, and protect basic human rights; on the other hand, such interference is inherently paternalistic-and thus problematic-since it limits the policy options and broader freedom of maneuver of domestic political actors. I argue that for paternalistic interference in foreign countries to be justified, it needs to be strictly proportional to domestic impediments to self-government and basic rights protection. Based on this claim, I model different degrees of interference that are admissible at particular stages of the postwar reconstruction process. Extrapolating from John Rawls's Law of Peoples, I suggest that full-scale international trusteeship can be justified only so long as conditions on the ground remain "outlaw"—that is, so long as security remains volatile and basic rights, including the right to life, are systematically threatened. Once basic security has been reestablished, a lower degree of interference continues to be justified, until new domestic governance structures become entirely self-sustaining. During this second phase of postwar reconstruction, external actors ideally ought to share responsibility for law-enforcement and administration with domestic authorities, which implies in practice that domestic and international officials should jointly approve all major decisions. I discuss various approximations of such shared responsibility in recent international peace operations and speculate about how best to ensure a timely transition toward full domestic ownership.
The Norms and Politics of Exit: Ending Postconflict Transitional Administrations [Abstract]
Dominik Zaum
While the impact of norms on post-conflict statebuilding operations has been well-explored in the literature, the ways in which the same normative frameworks affect the exit practices of such operations has so far remained unaddressed. To fill this gap, this paper examines the impact of the liberal-democratic norms governing statebuilding operations on the timing and process of exit of post-conflict international transitional administrations. To that end, it first examines the concept of exit, arguing that exit is best considered as a process rather than an event. The second section outlines the normative framework that has shaped postconflict statebuilding activities since the end of the cold war, and proposes three ways in which norms can affect exit: first, that norms act as blueprints for statebuilding and can thereby shape benchmarks for exit; second, that norms create "zones of permissibility" that explicitly commit statebuilders to a transitional presence and make exit central to the legitimacy of statebuilding operations; and third, that local actors strategically use norms, in particular those of self-determination and the taboo of permanent control of a territory, to push for an early exit of statebuilding operations. The third section explores both the scope and limitations of the three functions of norms with regard to exit in the context of a brief case study of UNMIK’s exit from Kosovo. The article concludes with some observations about the impact of the findings for exit strategies of international actors from statebuilding operations.
"The Refugee in International Society: Between Sovereigns" by Emma Haddad [Full Text]
Adrian Favell
How is it that within a couple of short decades refugees in European public perception went from being the archetypal "heroes" of the international system to being a disparaged and unwanted "flood" of migrants?
Samuel M. Makinda
"This is one of the finest books on the normative dimension of global governance published in the past decade," writes reviewer Samuel Makinda. "[It] should serve as a resource for a wide range of readers."
Endre Begby
The authors seek a legal foundation for humanitarian intervention without Security Council authorization squarely within the UN Charter's Article 51, which grants UN members an "inherent right of individual or collective self-defense" in response to armed attack.
Richard Vernon
The ongoing debate about the importance of promoting an idea of shared human identity that is not mediated by any personal connection, particularly in times of war, is made better by Erskine's contribution, says Vernon.
This section contains a round-up of recent notable books in the field of international affairs.