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In recent decades there has been a great expansion in the number, size and influence of International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) involved in international relief and development. These changes have led to increased scrutiny of such organisations, and this scrutiny, together with increasing reflection by INGOs themselves and their staff on their own practice, has helped to highlight a number of pressing ethical questions such organisations face, such as: should INGOs attempt to provide emergency assistance even when doing so risks helping to fuel further conflict? How should INGOs manage any differences between their values and those of the people they seek to benefit? How open and honest should INGOs be about their own uncertainties and failures?
This book consists of sustained reflections on such questions. It derives from a workshop held at Melbourne University in July 2007 that brought together a group of people - for the most part, reflective practitioners and moral and political philosophers - to discuss such questions. It explores honestly some of the current challenges and dilemmas that INGOs face, and also suggests some new ideas for meeting these challenges. Our hope is that the kind of explicit reflection on the ethical issues INGOs face exemplified in this publication will help to promote a wider debate about these issues, a debate that in turn will help INGO managers and others to make better, wiser, more ethically informed decisions.
List of contents
Ethical Obligations to the Poor in a World of Nation States.- Human Rights, Development INGOs and Priorities for Action.- The Ethics of Taking Sides.- The Epistemic Problem: Potential Solutions.- The Seeming Simplicity of Measurement*.- Whose Impact, and Is It All About Impact?.- Compromised Humanitarianism.- Aid Agencies, States, and Collective Harm.- To Respect or Not to Respect . . . Ethical Dilemmas of INGO Development Practitioners.- Ethical Behaviour in Non-government Organisations.- Afterword.
Summary
In recent decades there has been a great expansion in the number, size and influence of International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) involved in international relief and development. These changes have led to increased scrutiny of such organisations, and this scrutiny, together with increasing reflection by INGOs themselves and their staff on their own practice, has helped to highlight a number of pressing ethical questions such organisations face, such as: should INGOs attempt to provide emergency assistance even when doing so risks helping to fuel further conflict? How should INGOs manage any differences between their values and those of the people they seek to benefit? How open and honest should INGOs be about their own uncertainties and failures?
This book consists of sustained reflections on such questions. It derives from a workshop held at Melbourne University in July 2007 that brought together a group of people – for the most part, reflective practitioners and moral and political philosophers – to discuss such questions. It explores honestly some of the current challenges and dilemmas that INGOs face, and also suggests some new ideas for meeting these challenges. Our hope is that the kind of explicit reflection on the ethical issues INGOs face exemplified in this publication will help to promote a wider debate about these issues, a debate that in turn will help INGO managers and others to make better, wiser, more ethically informed decisions.
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From the reviews:
“Philosophical literature on global ethics, global justice, and global institutions is currently enjoying something of a boom. … The present volume, edited by Keith Horton and Chris Roche, makes a commendable contribution to further clarifying such accounts. … Given the present state of the art in this area of research, this may well be right and appropriate. The authors have made a commendable contribution to charting the field, and they have written a stimulating book that invites much further research in this area.” (Jos Philips, Ethical Perspectives, Vol. 19 (1), March, 2012)
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From the reviews:
"Philosophical literature on global ethics, global justice, and global institutions is currently enjoying something of a boom. ... The present volume, edited by Keith Horton and Chris Roche, makes a commendable contribution to further clarifying such accounts. ... Given the present state of the art in this area of research, this may well be right and appropriate. The authors have made a commendable contribution to charting the field, and they have written a stimulating book that invites much further research in this area." (Jos Philips, Ethical Perspectives, Vol. 19 (1), March, 2012)
