Lecture 24: The Ethics of International Inequality

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Lecture 24 The Ethics of International Inequality

• Two ethical positions essentialist and
  consequentialist
• For inequality two levels of responsibility
• - personal
• -state
  implications of international
• 
  anarchy
• Inequality and Justice
• Is inequalityinjustice? Lottery example
• It is not if (a) rules of game freely accepted,
  (b)equality of opportunity
• Is all inequality unjust if a and b dont apply?
• John Rawls (A Theory of Justice)
• Veil of ignorance
• A justification for inequality?

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• Does international inequality meet conditions a
  and b, plus the Rawlsian condition?
• Rawlsian?
• Freely chosen rules?
• Equal opportunity?
• The Issue of Rights
• Rights imply obligation. Who carries this
  obligation?
• Types of rights and obligations
• Specific
• General human rightseveryones obligation
• welfare rightsdomestically,
  internationally
• Extent of obligation
• Equalizing marginal utilities?

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Lecture 25 The Ethics of War and Just War Theory

• Universality of injunction against killing.
  Exceptions. Absolutists.
• Nevertheless, war endemic. Needs an ethical
  framework to justify it.
• Just War Theory When to fight. How to fight.
• I. When to Fight
• Self-defense against aggression. (art 51. UN
  Charter)
• Defining aggression Conditions (UNGA 1974)
• 
  Anticipatory self-defense?
• Nations
  other than victims? (art. 51)
• Intervention in internal disputes? Sovereignty.
  Michael Walzer. UN limits on sovereignty.

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• War as a last resort (a just cause need not make
  a just war)
• Other means exhausted?
• American Revolution. War Against Hitler.
• Issue of deterrence
• Issue of cost
• War itself is an evil. Does the good outweigh
  the bad (Belgium 1914?)
• Who decides (just the survivors?)
• II. How to Fight
• Laws of war
• Principle of Necessity minimal necessary
  destruction
• Principle of Proportionality destruction, even
  if minimal, must be proportionate to the
  difference it makes.
• Principle of non-combatant immunity
• Who is a combatant?
• Doctrine of double effect (weak and strong
  version)