Ethics matter. This is not only the tag line for the Carnegie Council. It is also the proposition of my work. Many writers take up ethical issues. But few have the vantage point of the Carnegie Council — a place where leaders from around the world come to share ideas, reflect on their experiences, and engage in public conversation.
Posted here are lectures, articles, and reviews reflecting my engagement with the Council’s activities. If there is a pattern, one might say it is opportunistic, seeking to add the ethical dimension to debates ongoing. One might also see a thread of realism. In my view, power and ethics are inseparable and are best considered together. …
From the Margins to the Mainstream: A Blueprint for Ethics and International Affairs
For me, the way into the study of ethics and international affairs begins with the concept of choice. Ethics is a reflection on the choices one makes and the values that come into play when making those choices: how do you justify your decisions? It’s the weighing up of competing moral claims.
I can get up here and say, “Peace is better than war,” “Life is better than death”—such aphorisms are relatively easy to deliver. And while it’s important to remind ourselves about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights—doctrines like this are a kind of touchstone—in terms of the Carnegie Council’s work, ethics is more of an untidy process.
From Andrew Carnegie to Hans Morgenthau: A Lesson in Ethics and International Affairs
Carnegie and Morgenthau make an instructive pairing. Carnegie, an idealist, stood for “never again war,” while Morgenthau stood for “never again genocide.” Nobody wants to go to war, yet genocide is also intolerable. How do you choose between these competing moral claims? This is where ethics comes in. “Many people think that ethics means the Ten Commandments, but in fact it is a process of reflection in the effort to choose between two goods—or, more often than not, the lesser of two evils,” Rosenthal said.
Shall We Call It An Empire?
The projection of American power inspires the great debate of our time. Is the United States a twenty-first century empire, and if so, what kind? If “empire” is not the right term, what is?
The debate arises from simple observation. American military might has turned from quick, lethal regime change in Afghanistan and Iraq to the long-term responsibilities of nation-building. American economic and political muscle has created and maintained an integrated world economy and the political institutions that support it.
