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Brian Rathbun argues against the prevailing wisdom on morality in international relations, both the commonly held belief that foreign affairs is an amoral realm and the opposing concept that norms have gradually civilized an unethical world. By focusing on how states respond to being wronged rather than when they do right, Rathbun shows that morality is and always has been virtually everywhere in international relations - in the perception of threat, the persistence of conflict, the judgment of domestic audiences, and the articulation of expansionist goals. The inescapability of our moral impulses owes to their evolutionary origins in helping individuals solve recurrent problems in their anarchic environment. Through archival case studies of German foreign policy; the analysis of enormous corpora of text; and surveys of Russian, Chinese, and American publics, this book reorients how we think about the role of morality in international relations.
List of contents
Introduction; 1. The nature in and nature of international relations Brian Rathbun; 2. Lesser angels: moral condemnation and binding morality in international relations Brian Rathbun; 3. Mankind is what anarchy makes of it: the material origins of ethics Brian Rathbun; 4. See no evil, speak no evil?: cross-national micro- and macro foundational evidence of morality's ubiquity Brian Rathbun and Caleb Pomeroy; 5. To provide and to protect: a dual-process model of foreign policy ideology for a dangerous or competitive world Brian Rathbun; 6. Just desserts in the desert: fairness, status and wilhelmine foreign policy during the Moroccan crises Brian Rathbun; 7. Barking dogs and beating drums: nationalism as moral revolution in German foreign policy Brian Rathbun; 8. Biting the bullet: binding morality, rationality and the domestic politics of war termination in Germany during WWI Brian Rathbun; 9. Dying in vain: authoritarian morality causes the German empire to collapse Brian Rathbun; 10. Daily bread: Hitler, moral devolution and Nazi foreign policy Brian Rathbun; 11. From Demonizing to dehumanizing: war under Hitler and the implications for mankind Brian Rathbun.
About the author
Brian C. Rathbun is the author of four other books on international affairs and is a Distinguished Scholar of the International Studies Association. His latest book with Cambridge University Press, Reasoning of State (2019), won the 2020 award for best book on foreign policy from the American Political Science Association.
Summary
Countering the opposing narratives of political amorality and moral progressivism, Rathbun provides a new approach to the place of morality in international politics. This book will appeal to students and scholars of international relations and security studies, especially those interested in normative, psychological and evolutionary approaches.
Foreword
Countering the opposing narratives of political amorality and moral progressivism, Rathbun provides a new approach to the place of morality in international politics.
