Structure

• Introduction – Few lines about importance and challenges of IR in current day
• Body – need for ethics in various transaction in international environment with examples
• Conclusion – end on a positive Also add few lines on the current trends in international ethics

Content

 In modern International Relations, there is immense development in the revival of ethics. Since last many decades, scholars are concerned to converse the way that states, institutions and individuals must behave.

International ethics is described as the good that international interactions, exchanges, relations which can bring to all life forms and which can be harmed by unfriendly, hostile, uncooperative behaviours. In simple term, international ethics is an area of international relations theory which concerns the extent and scope of ethical obligations between states in an epoch of globalization.

Scope/ need for ethics

• To assess right and wrong: International ethics offers understandings into how nations and other entities treat other nations and its people. Good acquaintance of international ethics provides people with insights to assess the good and harms, the rights and wrongs, which can occur in the international space. For example, the UN has been encouraging various principles of friendly and cooperative and peace related humanitarian international actions by all the member countries.
• Need of equality: The community of nations which respect other nations and their interests can itself be harmed by the governing nations willing to enforce their interests and will on other poorer nations when poorer nations are reluctant to cooperate without being treated as equals. Various agencies of the UN by their presence and action in various countries, promote certain world-wide principles that surpass the boundaries of individual nations and the ethical principles pursued by individual
• Need for inclusiveness: International ethic is not just an ethic of some leading country, it is not simply an ethic of a powerful country having obligations towards others because of the power they have over others. International ethics may be elaborated as that which enables one to participate more actively in shaping and building good international The vision of international community that every country has and reality of an international community provides us with food for thought on what ought to be the nature and purpose of investing in international relations to build an international community.
• Conflict management: The challenges of international conflicts must be dealt in appropriate way to embark upon studying what international community promotes and builds, whether perpetual peace and justice provide the much needed foundation on the basis of which it can
• Concerted action for common problems: Nations and multinational organizations expand their boundaries of national domestic arena to trade or interact with other nations and Every nation had its own focus, as nations accepted the production methods, technologies, political systems and legal systems from other nations, similar problems began to appear in almost every country. These were not regarded as shared problems that required joint action by all those affected by it. Each country was mainly responsible for problems occurring within it. But eventually, there is more interconnectedness between people and nations greater interdependence and greater shared responsibilities, which call on nations and other multinational organizations to act mutually. Joint action of international community becomes necessary. International ethics may be visualized as responding to this need for international action.
• Environmental issues: International ethics monitors international relations and tenacity of international conflicts. International ethics guides the international environmental effort to fight against ozone depletion, global warming which are collective problems and which require actions from numerous nations who are major contributors to forces generating such
• It is to identify that the power that human collectives have over nature and economic and social goods and services in the international spaces, it is easier to see how different organizations may be working at counter purposes or competitive purposes. It is also easy to see how and why harms may be done by one against another and without any hope of international justice. There are numerous issues which have profound ethical implications present in international spaces that people create or in which they participate in many different International relations can easily flourish in a global system renewed continually by greater levels of sensitivity to international ethics.

Power and International Ethics:

It is generally observed that the world attention, gets itself focused on the most powerful nation, both domestically and internationally, a nation that is willing to force its powerful will on the world, taking into task any nation that challenged its authority and its interests. Many wars and conflicts are certainly caused by the unilateral moves of dominant nations against other nations that endangered its global interests. International ethics is influenced by different philosophies of international and national power and the way this power play its role. There are beliefs that power does not follow any rules and this reasoning and is extended to apply to international spaces and relations. In its so called “chaos” nature, this belief in power, particularly power not following any rules slants the global balance in favour of dominant nations and entities and is unfavourable to weak or developing nations and entities. It is true that the anarchy of a dominant power imposes its will on other nations and entities. Under such conventions, justice follows national boundaries without any space for international or global justice.

In contradiction of “anarchy” nature of power, that is, power which does not follow any rules, there is another belief that international power follows certain rules which provide an international order which is qualitatively different from the previous case of anarchy. Power that follows rules of international order is better than power that does not.

Major trends in international relations/ what is ethical

International ethics also control choices of nation in the international sphere, but evidently choices are constrained rather than free.

• The choices may be constrained by the necessity of pleasing the domestic political The choices may be inhibited by the identity politics.
• The choices may be constrained by power equations and
• Several practical restraints may also be present, assuredly economic constraints and national interest constraint will not be missing when choices have to be

1. National interest: Many experts squabbled that preference is given for national interests when it is a choice of national interests versus global While accepting in general that a country’s goals must be defended as ethically that means right thing to do. A country’s goals and interests are several and may be in conflict within themselves without any transparency and more confusion. It is no doubt that morality infers choice between two or more alternative states of action. It is argued that if the practical necessities or constraints are such that they concern the survival or extinction of a state or its identity, any such constraints make morality or ethics, or law or political systems, immaterial.
2. Equality of Life: All humans must be given equal moral weight. This viewpoint must be accepted at global level. No preference is given by governments or by anybody else to the welfare of citizens of that There are no differentiating factors acknowledged by such governments that distinguish between the welfare of its citizens and those belonging to another country. Everyone has equal rights. Everyone is treated equally in equal respects. In such cases, it becomes meaningful to make sacrifices for others. It is generally observed that people hardly sacrifice themselves for even their close ones in present scenario. But people sacrificing themselves for others in the international space are truly worthy. Respect for life should guide international ethics.
3. International ethics must be pursued to compete ecological System: Nations are competing for ecological system advantages to help the environment to preserve its natural capacity and vitality. This will secure for nations an ecological and economic At the same time, they are not ready to bear much burden for the climate change action which can impede economic progression in short term. Ethical reflection on the natural environment has actually become international and global phenomena. Various perceptions are available from each of these fields for critical reflection on harms that human beings pose through daily activities.
4. Interdependence, Cooperation and Collaboration must be judged to maintain international ethics. In the obscurities of dominant countries, other countries have evolved certain international cooperation and collaboration treaties for several reasons. It is well recognized that one country emerged as a super power and have a dominant role in international relations between nations. International cooperation and collaboration are a measure of countries interdependence with other nations. Such international cooperation provides a measure of international order between them. International ethics in the framework of cooperation and collaboration are based on recognition of their mutual interests with each other. There may be several fields in which international cooperation has worked well and thus provides the basis for further cooperation and collaboration. Interdependence between nations through cooperation and teamwork, can provide the basis for a “law of peace” to be established for relations between people.
5. Diplomatic Relations and Understanding is also major drivers of International ethics: Diplomatic initiatives are always available for nations to resolve their differences and make agreements that ensure peace and security and also to further their rights and interests and to share duties and The movement of people can be eased by the diplomatic presence and provides another driver for international relations and international ethics which guides it. Each country may have its own interests in another country and or in promoting ties with other countries. In each country recognizing the other, there is the “international law of peace”, even though it may not resolve all conflicts between nations. A rule of reason can triumph under such circumstances.
6. Defence and Military Enterprise: Each nation use the power to achieve its global International ethics can also be considered as the use of power by one country against another country to accomplish its international goals and protecting its national interests. International conflict and wars are still a probability and it may even be impacted by the defence related establishments which have international reach and influence. International conventions on “international law of war” may be binding only when international community analyses and insists on it.
7. The Poverty and Wealth of Nations: Nations who want to become wealthy, have to reckon with poverty which hampers them from being active and responsible international actors involved and partaking in emergent international issues. Poverty may be a national Lessening poverty is major issue at international level. “International law of justice” may be invoked to have nations pledge to reduce and eradicate poverty wherever it is found, through responsible joint actions. The UN framework on Millennium Development Goals calls on nations to reduce poverty to half and continue to decrease poverty around the world. Poverty measures, poverty indices, are available to guide policy. Several international NGOs involved in this field to eliminate poverty have frameworks to make decisions and choices which offers other field of international ethics and can drive the values of global solidarity and justice.
8. The Inequality of Nations: At global stage, there is growing Inequalities lead to certain conflicts which may be domestic in origin or international, but they are indicators of troubling trends. In an unequal world, expectations of equity, international equity are high. Any international action must be aimed at benefiting the least advantaged nations more than that would be expected for a most advantaged nation. Otherwise, there would not be an incentive for less advantaged or least advantaged nations to participate in international actions. In cases of such failures, only those international actions which are driven by prevailing nations will be carried through creating and endorsing a more divided world with even a greater possibility of future conflict.
9. International Ethics with respect to economic, Social and Environmental Frameworks: There are a number of frameworks available for making decisions concerning international actions which have economic, social, and environmental consequences and impact over future There is a gap between any system of global and international values and international ethics on the ground. This is because of the broadening gap in ground realities between nations and international organizations due to levels of difficult conflict. The frameworks are evolved to provide a way to resolve the conflict and they are useful to deal with numerous conflicting ideas on international ethics. For instance, the framework provided under UN agencies, the framework of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the framework of Universal Declaration of Human Genome and Human Rights, the various international declarations and conventions which offer the necessary framework for supportive and collaborative international action to resolve international issues.

There are several global institutions concerned with the global economic order, others with the global information order, still others with the global environmental regimes or order. Each of them provides frameworks within which its members are expected to take decisions that are respected and supported by virtue of the frameworks agreed upon.

To summarize, there is vast literature that demonstrates ethics as an important determinant for good understanding of international relations. International relations must forestall serious and sometimes dangerous conflicts between nations or groups. Ethnic and ideological differences can explode into major conflicts. The threatening complexity of competing narratives distinguishing national and non-state actors alike disrupts the relative tranquillity of formal dialogue on ideological differences. Cycles of ethnic conflict, civil war shape clashes in ways where formal dialogue may never progress or deter. Many professionals have stated that matters of equity and justice, of human dignity in the face of adversity and terror, are to be judged morally and not merely administratively (Bietz (1979). It is significant that moral issues in international relations must be shown.